Overview

When two plainclothes policemen arrested champion cyclist David Millar in a restaurant near Biarritz in 2004 for doping, it marked the beginning of a two-year exile from cycling and the end of everything else: his multimillion dollar contract with one of the biggest teams in the sport, his opulent lifestyle, the support of his teammates and closest friends, and the gold medal he'd won months before at the world championships. This candid memoir follows a young and idealistic cyclist from the early-morning streets of Hong Kong to the highest echelons of the sport in France where, overcome by peer pressure and the stress of remaining at the top, he started using the red blood cell-boosting substance EPO. Millar, reinstated to the sport and now an ardent critic of doping, paints an intriguing and frenetic portrait of professional cycling and of the pressures and seediness lurking beneath the surface. As pulse-pounding and suspenseful as a thriller, this piercing, moving memoir shines a light into the dark corners of cycling and, by extension, all of world-class sport.

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9788493985059

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Reviews

This is an urgent tale, told in an authentic voice. . . . [D]eserves to stand among the great first-person accounts of sporting experience. -- Guardian

"""World-class cyclist Millar examines his tarnished quest to the top of his sport in his stunning memoir. . . . Anyone interested in the grueling world of the men in professional cycling ought to read this candid, courageous book of Millar's journey from regret to redemption."" --Publishers Weekly ""Engagingly straightforward recollections of a champion athlete who succumbed to the dark side of illegal performance enhancement. . . . [Millar's] forthright tone makes his downfall seem relatable."" --Kirkus Reviews ""Millar unflinchingly lays bare his story, from his personal struggles to deal with his success to his path to drugs to his dark, post-arrest days to his Phoenix-like return to cycling."" --Booklist ""This is an urgent tale, told in an authentic voice. . . . [D]eserves to stand among the great first-person accounts of sporting experience."" --Guardian"

This is an urgent tale, told in an authentic voice. . . . [D]eserves to stand among the great first-person accounts of sporting experience. Guardian

Millar unflinchingly lays bare his story, from his personal struggles to deal with his success to his path to drugs to his dark, post-arrest days to his Phoenix-like return to cycling. Booklist Engagingly straightforward recollections of a champion athlete who succumbed to the dark side of illegal performance enhancement. . . . [Millar's] forthright tone makes his downfall seem relatable. Kirkus Reviews This is an urgent tale, told in an authentic voice. . . . [D]eserves to stand among the great first-person accounts of sporting experience. Guardian World-class cyclist Millar examines his tarnished quest to the top of his sport in his stunning memoir. . . . Anyone interested in the grueling world of the men in professional cycling ought to read this candid, courageous book of Millar's journey from regret to redemption. Publishers Weekly

Author Information

David Millar is a Scottish road racing cyclist. He has won five stages of the Tour de France, two of the Vuelta a España, and one stage of the Giro d'Italia. He is one of only five British men to have worn the yellow jersey at the Tour de France and was the British national road champion and national time trial champion in 2007. He won the gold medal in the time trial at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

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