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Home > From Lance to Landis: Inside the American Doping Controversy at the Tour de France
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From Lance to Landis: Inside the American Doping Controversy at the Tour de France
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By David Walsh
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 (45 Reviews)
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List Price: $24.95
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Publisher:
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Ballantine Books
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Date:
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June 26, 2007 |
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Binding:
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Hardcover
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Pages:
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352
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| Product Description: |
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For eight years, the Tour de France, arguably the world?s most demanding athletic competition, was ruled by two men: Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis. On the surface, they were feature players in one of the great sporting stories of the age?American riders overcoming tremendous odds to dominate a sport that held little previous interest for their countrymen. But is this a true story, or is there a darker version of the truth, one that sadly reflects the realities of sports in the twenty-first century? Landis?s title is now in jeopardy because drug tests revealing that his testosterone levels were eleven times those of a normal athlete strongly suggest that he used banned substances, and for years similar allegations have swirled around Armstrong.
Now internationally acclaimed award-winning journalist David Walsh gives an explosive account of the shadow side of professional sports. In this electrifying, controversial, and scrupulously documented exposé, Walsh explores the many facets of the cyclist doping scandals in the United States and abroad. He examines how performance-enhancing drugs can infiltrate a premier sports event?and why athletes succumb to the pressure to use them. In researching this book, Walsh conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with key figures in international cycling, doctors, and other insiders, including Emma O?Reilly, Armstrong?s longtime massage therapist; former U.S. Postal Service cycling team doctor Prentice Steffen; cycling legend Greg LeMond; and former teammates of both Landis and Armstrong.
Central to the story is Lance Armstrong?s relentless, all-consuming drive to be the best. Also essential to this narrative is Floyd Landis, the unassuming, sympathetic hero who was the first winner of the Tour de France after Lance?and the first ever to face the threat of having his title revoked. More than anything else, this book will ignite anew the debate about whether there is room in the current sports culture for athletes who compete honestly, whether sports can be saved from a scandal as widespread as this, and what changes will have to be made.
With a compelling narrative and revelations that will stun, enlighten, and haunt readers, David Walsh addresses numerous questions that arise in that crucial space where sports meet the larger American culture.
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Customers' Reviews:
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interesting, June 23, 2010
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After reading this book you can judge for yourself. Match riders and doping convictions, and those that have been caught. This book puts the whole world of cycling under a new light. I guess professional sports dictate results before honesty. Great book for what maybe does or does not go on in the world of cycling.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
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Read it With an Open Mind, March 21, 2010
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David Walsh is one of Ireland's most respected sportswriters, and he does a good job in this book of interviewing people for this book, which is, essentially, an English version of the French Secrets of Lance Armstrong.
It must be said that the author presents some pretty convincing evidence that implicates the American in some pretty unsavory situations, but the reader should be aware that a lot of the 'evidence' presented herein is circumstantial.
Since Armstrong refuses to address the matter of drug use in a book, the best counterpoint to Walsh's book would probaly be Floyd Landis' book, Positively False -- which, it shoud be noted, must also be taken with a very large grain of salt. Probably neither book is 100% accurate, and we outsiders will never know the truth.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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 Read it twice just for the insight into the sport. This is information we deserved to be told., February 20, 2010
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I've read the book two times and not as a member of the "Nail Armstrong" brigade but because it does give insight to professional road cycling and I do call it that because we need to remember that cycling is wide and varied, up to the kid riding his tricycle down the street. He's more respectable than many of those riding described in this book who basically have no kind rules placed on them. Okay, the UCI and others say it is changing, but professional cycling has always had this kind of substance abuse and most likely always will. The thing is, is with the EPO or r-EPO making it's way into the sport by the late '80s/'90s, a cyclist's performance could now start to grow up to 30% better for a cyclist than a performance without. So, in other words, Walsh is telling us a story we need to know. A story where often it is not new information but he somewhat coordinates the information for a better understanding by the reader. This is information we deserve to know, how with the r-EPO, cyclists that would be nowhere near leading in the mountains, now were up in the pack and cyclists not using but that should be leading in the mountains were nowhere near the front. Really quite ridiculous. Whereas speeds riding on flat roads and speeds on the mountains now became similar, whereas one team using r-EPO before it was a known commodity did the extraordinary finishing 1-2-3 in one famed race. This is a book about cyclists getting those extra wings while other 'clean' cyclists fall behind the pack.
I remember the recent tour where Vinokourov broke away from the pack, doing a fantastic job and reknown cycling commentator Phil Ligget exclaiming "I don't believe it! This is impossible" and yes, I felt the exact same way but in a suspicious cynical way and voila, the rider was promptly caught in drug tests concerning this episode. German TV soon thereafter decided not to broadcast what they termed as "chemical exhibitions." That episode was a lot like the way Floyd Landis stormed back in that one race and I believe both happened within a year of each other, 2006 and then with Vino in 2007. Still, I have no personal resentment against these two individuals.
The science angle is about as understandable as possible per Walsh's narrative and this is no easy feat. High-Performance Cycling is an example of a book with a lot of science talk on cycling that might leave the layman unsure of what he just read.
To those who often say that the likes of Walsh and others are just taking pot shots, why should one turn a blind eye towards Armstrong, the backdated prescription he was issued in 1999 that cleared his use for a substance found in his system, his relationship with the notorious Dr. Ferrari, giving the 'shush' sign to Simeone during a Tour De France stage (similar incidents purportedly with Robin and Bassons, anti-dopers) and in fact, the witnessing of Armstrong saying he did use performance enhancers and the Armstrong camp clearly going after many detractors via legal avenues and why doesn't Armstrong speak against the use of these substances? It's good that this book could not be stopped because it's not about the book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
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 unsavory, August 5, 2009
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I think David Walsh has written a book, not in praise of the non-dopers, but to enrich himself through character assassination. The glory belongs to the man in the field and not to the man throwing rocks at those who take the field. Doping probably is rampant even today in cycling but heroism, a strong work ethic, dedication, and courage is still in place. The best thing about this book is the photos. After I cut these out the book goes in the trash where it belongs.
0 of 11 people found the following review helpful
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Sensationalist propaganda lacking substantial proof, July 20, 2009
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Hats off to Walsh for knowing that he had to attack Armstrong in order for his book to sell. But there's no proof that Armstrong--the athlete who has been drug tested more than any other athlete in the history of sports--ever did anything illegal or unethical. What's his proof? Interviews with disgruntled former employees, also looking to jump on the Let's-Attack-Lance bandwagon. Why did he win? He's smart, he had the best manager and teams in the business, and the man can endure pain to an amazing level. Walsh and others like him, who make a living out of attacking good people, are simply jealous.
1 of 13 people found the following review helpful
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