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    The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs
    Unavailable
    The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs
    Unavailable
    The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs

    Written by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle

    Narrated by Sean Runnette

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The Secret Race is a definitive look at the world of professional cycling-and the doping issue surrounding this sport and its most iconic rider, Lance Armstrong-by former Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton and New York Times bestselling author Daniel Coyle.
     
    Over the course of two years, Coyle conducted more than two hundred hours of interviews with Hamilton and spoke candidly with numerous teammates, rivals, and friends. The result is an explosive book that takes us, for the first time, deep inside a shadowy, fascinating, and surreal world of unscrupulous doctors, anything-goes team directors, and athletes so relentlessly driven to succeed that they would do anything-and take any risk, physical, mental, or moral-to gain the edge they need to win.
     
    Tyler Hamilton was once one of the world's best-liked and top-ranked cyclists-a fierce competitor renowned among his peers for his uncanny endurance and epic tolerance for pain. In the 2003 Tour de France, he finished fourth despite breaking his collarbone in the early stages-and grinding eleven of his teeth down to the nerves along the way. He started his career with the U.S. Postal Service team in the 1990s and quickly rose to become Lance Armstrong's most trusted lieutenant, and a member of his inner circle. For the first three of Armstrong's record seven Tour de France victories, Hamilton was by Armstrong's side, clearing his way. But just weeks after Hamilton reached his own personal pinnacle-winning the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics-his career came to a sudden, ignominious end: He was found guilty of doping and exiled from the sport.
     
    From the exhilaration of his early, naïve days in the peloton, Hamilton chronicles his ascent to the uppermost reaches of this unforgiving sport. In the mid-1990s, the advent of a powerful new blood-boosting drug called EPO reshaped the world of cycling, and a relentless, win-at-any-cost ethos took root. Its psychological toll would drive many of the sport's top performers to substance abuse, depression, even suicide. For the first time ever, Hamilton recounts his own battle with clinical depression, speaks frankly about the agonizing choices that go along with the decision to compete at a world-class level, and tells the story of his complicated relationship with Lance Armstrong.
     
    A journey into the heart of a never-before-seen world, The Secret Race is a riveting, courageous act of witness from a man who is as determined to reveal the hard truth about his sport as he once was to win the Tour de France.

    Includes an audio exclusive introduction from Tyler Hamilton.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 5, 2012
    ISBN9780385392983
    Unavailable
    The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs

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    Reviews for The Secret Race

    4/5

    172 ratings14 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This is a fantastic read! If you've ever watched the Tour de France and wondered what goes on behind the scenes, this book will answer all your questions. If you watched Lance Armstrong win 7 Tour de France titles and wondered what it was like being there, you'll hear about it from someone who was one of his closest teammates. I you were a Tyler Hamilton fan and wondered what happened when he tested positive for drug use, you'll hear his story in his own words. Hamilton collaborated with journalist Daniel Coyle on this book, in which he describes his entry into the world of professional cycling, his rise to the top of the sport, his eventual disqualification and retirement, and the events that led him to telling his full story.
    • 5/5
      It will be hard for me to read. I have been anti Armstrong since 2000 and knew he doped but nobody believed me but a few cycling friends. On the other hand it will be much better to read about him now that the whole world knows what he is like..........



      Hard because I will probably read how he got way with so much for all those years. Never understood the admiration. His bullying ways were so obvious plus he and his team mates all of a sudden became so good.

      When he won the tour in 1999 I was happy for him, but in 2000 he showed what a despicable man he was in the way he treated others, and yes I started to dislike him, which turned to hate.



      OMG. Just finished reading this book. I loved it. The world I thought I knew so much about (Yes I knew about doping and expected Lance and his whole tam to have a trick where they could dope and not be found out) turned out to be even worse!

      And yes I also wondered if lance would test positively, if the Tour de France would want the world to know. Not just them but also the UCI, because Lance brought lot of viewers of America which means money)
      It was shocking how right I was.

      I remember all those years that when I said something negatively about Armstrong, his fans who were always telling me. He has been tested 500 times and never tested positive. (which was a lie)

      The thing is, I started to dislike the guy not because of suspicion of doping but because i could what a nasty guy he was already in 2000.

      But because he was a hero according to many they let him bully them.

      All those journalists that licked his ball. Now they are all apologizing for not doing their work. meaning be neutral!



      (Respect for Paul Kimmage who went after Armstrong and the UCI and was bullied but is now counter suing the UCI!)

      Back to the book. Great story although I did feel that Tyler was still making excuses about him doping. Everybody did it. No that was not true.
      But the story he is telling is really important so kudos to him, and I respect Floyd Landis for finally being honest for a change. One of few that stood against Armstrong.

    • 3/5
      This is a straightforward telling of big time bicycle racing, roughly 1995 - 2005. It's all about the drugs and blood transfusions, and about the testing and evasions and cover-ups etc. Tyler Hamilton tells his personal story - he was as involved as anybody. But the story revolves around Lance Armstrong. I like riding my bike but I don't really care about racing very much. I've watched some bike racing but I'm more into touring. And of course Lance confessed to Oprah - this is covered in an afterword here. I imagine real racing fans will be more glued to the details here. For me the interesting thing was more about people and culture. This kind of "everybody cheats" mentality is hardly unique to bicycle racing. This book doesn't really step back and look at the bigger pattern or do any deep analysis. It's really Hamilton's story, getting caught up in a world of lies and then breaking free by telling the truth. It's a fascination story and well told. It gives the reader something to think about, for sure!
    • 4/5
      The Secret Race is cyclist Tyler Hamilton’s story of being a star and then a burst star on the European circuit, the Big League of international bike racing. The book tells how he became a doper, what a difference it made, what happened when he was busted, and how he came to confess his own doping and confirm that of Lance Armstrong. From their perspective, doping was part of becoming a true “professional.” Sounds a lot better than becoming a true “cheater” and was justified by a belief that doping was so widespread you’d be cheating yourself if you didn’t join in—who the hell in the race wasn’t cheating? Hamilton writes, “I was sure I wasn’t doing anything my rivals weren’t doing…My hematocrit was below 50. I was playing by the rules.” Some rules, and in playing by them Tyler ignored what the French called à deux vitesses— one speed made by racers limited to their body’s strength, and a second speed made by dopers whose jet fuel boosters left all those saps behind. Hamilton, in the end, found peace after confessing his misdeeds. He declares, “Here’s what I was learning: secrets are poison. They suck the life out of you, they steal your ability to live in the present, they build walls between you and the people you love.” A hard lesson to learn and live by. Tyler is happier for it. Racers who never doped might or might not be happy for Hamilton. It’s easy to condemn the dopers. I do, though I had rooted for Lance enthusiastically. But we also should reflect on a comment by Michael Ashenden, a doctor who testified against Hamilton in Tyler’s own doping case and who was one of the developers of the doping test Tyler failed. About Hamilton and others who confessed or were caught, Ashenden says, “Before, I saw them as weak people, bad people. Now I see that they’re put in an impossible situation. If I had been put in their situation, I would do what they did.”Does each of us know what we would have done? And how do we know our answer is not self-flattering self-deceit?Interesting book!
    • 4/5
      This was quite a story. I loved getting all the details of Hamilton's racing career, and in particular the way he doped and got away with it. The writing is so-so, and Hamilton clearly has an agenda (sometimes a repetitive one), but it feels honest and emotional. He talks about both his highs (e.g., Olympic gold) and his lows (depression, divorce). We also get brief perspectives from other cyclists. > "Hey Tyler, good ride yesterday." I'm far from the first person to point this out, but Lance has a compelling way of talking. First he likes to pause for about half a second right before he says something. He just looks at you, checking you, and also letting you check him. "Thanks," I said. He nodded. Something passed between us—respect? Recognition? Whatever it was, it felt pretty cool. For the first time, I got a feeling that I might belong.> It was either amphetamines or anabolics—both were powerful, but they had downsides. Amphetamines made riders stupid—they'd launch these crazy attacks, use up all their energy. Anabolics made people bloated, heavy, gave them injuries in the long run, not to mention these horrid skin rashes. They'd be superstrong in the cool weather, in shorter races, but in a long, hot stage race, the anabolics would drag them down. So bottom line, a clean rider could compete in the big three-week tours. EPO changed everything. … for world-class athletes, EPO improves performance around 5 percent> I finished in the first group of thirty and I was paniagua . I came to discover that it was really pan y agua —"bread and water." From that, I made the obvious conclusion: riding without chemical assistance in the pro peloton was so rare that it was worth pointing out.> The red egg [of testosterone] was a badge of honor, a sign that Pedro and the team saw my potential. I felt like this was a small step toward making the A team.> We quickly became friends, and discovered a truth about our sport: there is no friendship in the world like the friendship of being on a bike-racing team. The reason is one word: give. You give all your strength: during the race, you shelter each other, you empty yourself for the sake of another person, and they do the same for you. You give all your time: you travel together, room together, eat every meal together. You ride for hours together every day, knuckle to knuckle. To this day, I can remember how each of my teammates chewed their food, how they fixed their coffee, how they walked when they were tired, how their eyes looked when they were going to have a shitty day or a great day.> At other races, I'd overhear the A-team riders talking about their hematocrit, comparing numbers, with a lot of oohs and aahs and teasing. They talked about hematocrit all the time, as much as they talked about the weather or the road conditions. The numbers seemed to carry huge meaning: I'm 43—you don't have to worry about me winning today. But I hear you're a 49—look out!> Riders talked of an EPO honeymoon, and in my experience it was true—as much a psychological phenomenon as anything else. The thrill comes from the way a few drops of EPO allow you to break through walls that used to stop you cold, and suddenly there's a feeling of new possibility. Fear melts. You wonder: How far could I go? How fast can I ride? People think doping is for lazy people who want to avoid hard work. That might be true in some cases, but in mine, as with many riders I knew, it was precisely the opposite. EPO granted the ability to suffer more; to push yourself farther and harder than you'd ever imagined, in both training and racing> if anybody on the team got too high, they could always lower their hematocrit by taking a speed bag—an IV bag of saline—or simply chugging a couple of liters of water and some salt tablets, a process we called "getting watered down."> We called EPO "zumo," which is Spanish for "juice." We also called it "O.J.," "salsa," "vitamin E," "therapy," and "Edgar," which was short for Edgar Allan Poe. I can't remember who thought of that one, but we liked it: Gonna speak with Edgar. Gonna visit Edgar. My old buddy Edgar .> When Lance is leading, he sometimes likes to make it hard on the pursuers by riding as close as possible to the spectators on the edge of the road; that way, his rival can use less of his slipstream than if he were in the center. Giving a half draft, it's called; and while it's useful, it's also risky.> He would have to do a lot of time-consuming work to keep the RBCs alive, slowly mixing them with a glycol solution (basically, antifreeze) that replaced the water and thus kept the cells from bursting when they were frozen. Second, the Siberia BBs would be slightly less potent than the refrigerated BBs: due to the trauma inherent in the freezing process, only 90 percent of the cells would survive—not a huge difference, but worth noting. Ufe explained that I would simply piss out the 10 percent of red blood cells that died. My urine would be rust-colored for a bit, a disconcerting side effect, but essentially harmless.> He told me he would not be offering Siberia to all his clients, but only to a select few: me, Ullrich, Vino, and Ivan Basso. The price tag was $50,000 for the season, plus the usual bonuses for each of my victories.> Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton. That night I didn't want to take the medal off; it felt so good, looked so beautiful … Two days after the Tour of Spain positive, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) informed me that my A test from the Olympics had also tested positive.> In late May 2006 Spanish police raided Ufe's Madrid office—that office I knew so well—along with a couple of nearby apartments. They emerged with a trove of evidence that astonished the world. Two hundred and twenty BBs. Twenty bags of plasma. Two refrigerators. One freezer (which I presumed was good old Siberia). Large plastic totes filled with no fewer than 105 different medications, including Prozac, Actovegin, insulin, and EPO … Ufe hadn't been a boutique service for elite riders; he had been a one-man Wal-Mart, servicing what seemed to be half the peloton. Officially, the police linked forty-one riders to him> The winning time up Alpe d'Huez in the 2011 Tour was 41:21; back in 2001, a rider with that time would have finished 40th … In 2001, 13 percent of riders were classified as having abnormally high or low levels of reticulocytes, or newly formed red blood cells (signs of EPO use and/or transfusion). By 2011, that number had dropped to 2 percent.
    • 4/5
      I read this in almost one sitting while Tour de France coverage was playing in the background. A fascinating look inside the wild-west drug free-for-all of the Lance Armstrong years. In the end, I felt like I had more questions than answers, the most important of which was: What would I do? Could you give up your childhood dream and move back to America and sell tires… or would you take the needle and try to compete with the big boys? Frankly, I’m a bit afraid of what my answer would be. I admire Tyler Hamilton for admitting all.
    • 4/5
      A book that could be described as the a study of the hero as everyman. This book was good. The story was well told and engaging. Yes it is a particular story, Tyler's story, and he comes across as likeable and understandable. It seemed, however that he made points that we should all consider, the old, well-worn mantra of "What would you do in the same situation?" Yes he doped. Yes he claims everyone did it, and given the statistics it seems he was correct. But several other points come out. Even though everyone doped, or almost everyone at least among the elite riders, those at the top, some still managed to do better than others, it took more than doping to achieve success. Some were more honest (relatively) than others, some were not. And the big question remains, the "what would you do". For the truth is that we are, for the most part, all Tyler Hamiltons. We all want to succeed, to be liked, to be in the cool crowd. We all tell ourselves little stories and little white lies to cover our less than laudable choices. Most of us ignore evidence of wrongdoing because it is too uncomfortable. Most of just hope that bad things will simply go away. Most of us are like Tyler Hamilton and the other riders who took dope because they just wanted a chance to succeed, to show what they could do, and who believed they had no other choice, even if that belief was wrong. Most are not willing to take the risk to stand up for our beliefs against all odds. Luckily most of us are not like Lance Armstrong either. It is true that he does not come out well in this book; it is not his book after all. At the same time, from an observer's standpoint, Hamilton never came across as particularly likable during the period of his Tour de France wins. But we don't always expect our heroes to be likeable and we sometimes confuse arrogance and confidence. In many ways Armstrong was and is a prisoner of his own success, his need to win. As Hamilton points out, winning goes to your head. It can make you think you are better than everyone else; it can make you forget that reality is much more fragile. This is a engaging, touching and humanizing book, a reminder of the tentative nature of our own humanity, as a reminder of the toll our yearning for superheros really takes, both on those we idolize and ourselves.
    • 4/5
      This has been a difficult book for me to read because I am very against doping, and folks gaining an advantage by cheating. Sure, many of these riders have now come clean claiming mea culpa, but many of them are in positions of financial advantage because of their cheating ways (I am a rider myself).The book itself is very well written, chock full of details, and maintains a great pace. I found myself easily drawn into the book, wanting to find out more, about the issue that everyone has known about, but no with all the dirty laundry aired out. I assume Daniel did all the writing, and it is very well done.This book was thought provoking, and for that I can recommend it. How do we approach these cheaters? Do we categorically condemn them, or do we forgive them? Maybe it is best to learn from the past mistakes, struggle and aim to achieve a level playing field - one that isn't full of cheaters?
    • 4/5
      Have you ever read a book that Library Thing "predicts you won't like", just to see if the prediction is really accurate? I did. I read The Secret Race because LT indicated, with a "high" level of confidence, that it wouldn't be my cup of tea. After all, I usually don't read books about doping, or sports. Anyway, I did like the book, enough to finish it at least.Ex-elite bike racer Tyler Hamilton, who worked with Lance Armstrong for many years, tells his sordid tale of using performance enhancing drugs prescribed and administered by slippery doctors. Everyone else does it, so in order to compete, Hamilton had to do it too. Eventually, he could no longer stand living a double life, so wrote this book as his attempt to be honest about the drug situation in the world of elite racing. Of course, now he's made an implacable enemy in Lance Armstrong. Hamilton comes across as a likeable guy who got in over his head. Armstrong, on the other hand, comes across as a total jerk.I recommend this book, even if you think you're not interested in elite bicycle racing.
    • 5/5
      Heartbreaking, as a long time cycling fan, but essential reading.
    • 4/5
      The Secret Race is a (hopefully) honest account of the rampant doping in the sport of cycling throughout the past twenty years. Tyler Hamilton, once one of the sport's top riders, reveals how doping quickly became a necessity to anyone hoping to compete at an elite level. Along the way, Hamilton divulges information regarding cycling's most prominent figure, Lance Armstrong, including his use, and subsequent cover-up, of performance enhancing drugs.

      In a sport that has become incredibly clouded with secrets and lies, Hamilton's book accomplishes a rare thing; it makes you believe he is telling the truth. There are a surprising amount of corroborating stories, anecdotes, and testimonies throughout the book that provide support for Hamilton's story, but they aren't even necessary. Hamilton's writing (with Coyle's help) is incredibly honest, personal, and detailed, and creates such an authentic story that it is nearly impossible to harbor doubts about its accuracy.

      While I was definitely impressed by Hamilton's book, it did occasionally fall into, and later rely upon, some tedious information (procedures for blood transfusions, lists of different drugs, hematocrit levels, names of former riders and specific tour stages). Personally, I enjoyed even these aspects of the story, as my memories of the Tour are still fresh enough for me to follow the references, but for a broader audience there will likely be some passages that become frustrating to read.

      I also have a gripe about the cover. To me, this cover feels a bit bland and boring. Largely blank except for two crudely cropped photos of Hamilton and Armstrong on racing bikes, I first thought this was a self-published book before I recognized the title. The book is very good and speaks for itself, but it deserves a larger audience than this cover will draw in.

      In the end, The Secret Race is a very personal and gripping look into the cycling industry as well as a captivating memoir of Tyler Hamilton's life.

      Thanks to First Reads and Bantam Books for providing me this copy of The Secret Race.
    • 4/5
      A behind the scenes look at the sport of cycling and doping from a candid professional cyclist. Tyler Hamilton takes readers on his journey in the toughest sport in the world and how someone incredibly athletic comes to make the decisions he made to insure he could compete with the best.I became a fan of cycling recently (within the last few years) so I was already aware of widespread doping and I had no idea who Tyler Hamilton is until I read this. Some people would be appalled by the fact that these athletes dope and would think of it in the same way that they think of a baseball player doping. I already knew that it was completely different and that difference is incredibly important so this isn’t shocking to me at all. Reading from a cyclist’s perspective was a nice change and made it more human than reading solely from a journalist’s opinion. I found myself respecting Tyler Hamilton early on in this and it has made me want to research other cyclists that were mentioned as well. There is that moment when you ask yourself what you would do if the shoe was on your foot and then ask if you’re being honest. I will highly recommend this one to everyone (fan or not).
    • 5/5
      I liked Hamilton before I knew he was a doper. Then I was disgusted him, especially after his chimera defense. This book is brutally honest and I believe it. I see today that there are reports that Lance Armstrong is considering admitting his PED use. Hamilton's account rings true and has many details I've not seen before on how they doped and still tested clean.
    • 5/5
      Tyler Hamilton and Lance Armstrong were both born just a few months apart in 1971, they were teammates before they became famous and saw one another rise (and fall) through their professional careers. And it turns out they were both heavily into doping. Hamilton has come clean in this detailed memoir of what happened. The type of dope, how they took it, how they hid it, how it helped them (and Lance in particular) become the world's top racers. Hamilton and Armstrong have a deep division today because Armstrong still maintains his innocence but Hamilton comes across the better and stronger man for admitting his guilt and putting it all out in the open. This is a really well written and compelling book, hard to put down. It's larger than two people, it's about the sport as a whole - and it's an ancient story of redemption and the power of truth. I got a lot out of this book. One day sooner than later Armstrong will write his own book but it's hard to imagine it topping the power of this book.