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The Secret Race
- Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
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Summary
Winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2012.
On a fateful night in 2009, Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle met for dinner at a restaurant in Boulder, Colorado. The two had met five years before while Coyle was writing his best-selling book Lance Armstrong: Tour de Force. But this time, Tyler had something else on his mind. He finally wanted to come clean, about everything: the doping, the lying, his years as Lance Armstrong's teammate on U.S. Postal,, and his decade spent running from the truth. "I'm sorry," he told Coyle. "It just feels so good to be able to talk about this. I've been quiet for so many years."
Over the next 18 months, Hamilton would tell his story - and his sport's story - in explosive detail, never sparing himself in the process. In a way, he became as obsessed with telling the truth as he had been with winning the Tour de France just a few years before.
The result of this determination is The Secret Race, a book that pulls back the curtain and takes us into the secret world of professional cycling like never before. It's a world populated by unbelievably driven - and some flawed - characters. A world where the competition used every means to get an edge, and the options were stark. A world where it often felt like there was no choice.
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What listeners say about The Secret Race
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Overall
- Bettym
- 19-03-13
Great story even if you are not a bike racing fan
This book tells it like it was about the doping culture in top class bike racing and how it was impossible to win without enhancing your performance. A fascinating insight into the top races and racers, making clear that those superhuman feats you had seen in the Tour de France on TV really were that - beyond normal human achievement. Tyler Hamilton comes across as a basically decent guy, and there is relatively little special pleading. The commentary by his co-author Daniel Coyle adds welcome balance. Just be glad that the Tour is so much slower than it was. Sean Runnette reads really well.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Steven Hyndman
- 04-09-15
favourite cycling book, simply awesome!
A Great book letting you see the inside world of a professional cyclist, what you have to do if you want to keep up and win.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Claire Mills
- 16-02-13
Enlightening
I'd just finished listening to Bradley Wiggin's autobiography and moved straight onto this one. Talk about a complete contrast of the same competition and hopefully shows how much progress the sport has made over the last few years. Sean Runnette narrated it perfectly and painted a brilliant picture of 'The Secret Race'. If you're interested in bike racing then this is an absolute must listen to, especially after the recent Lance Armstrong Oprah Winfrey confession. You'll be hooked and in disbelief of the cover up over the last 15 years.
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2 people found this helpful
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- K. Spence
- 13-02-13
Brilliantly written and narrated
I have been a lover of the Tour De France since ITV's World of Sport showed it in the 70's. And since the 80's/90's have followed it religiously on C4 and then Eurosport. I remember the Festina affair well and how the cyclists refused to race the following day. I don't think I ever imagined cycling was so dirty, well not until this book. Daniel Coyle and Sean Runnette have turned this autobiography of a cycling cheat into a masterpiece. Don't get me wrong I think Tyler cheated for all the right reasons. He wanted to win and not get left behind and he wanted to beat his once friend and nemisis Lance Armstrong. The book is endearing and engaging and you almost don't want Tyler Hamilton to get caught, but you know how it ends. I'm really pleased his story has been made into a book. I think a film must be on the cards. This book is worth 5 stars any day of the week, certainly the best Autobiography I've read/heard in a very, very, long time
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2 people found this helpful
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- HS
- 30-10-18
One of the best!
I have listened to a few cyclist audio books (Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome) and although these are all worth listening to this is the most interesting historically (Froome second) as it focuses not only on the individual but also the doping culture of the time that Tyler was part of. It is a fascinating honest confession - Essential reading for anyone interested in the evolution of the sport putting it into a class of its own.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Simon lambert
- 27-10-18
Great book, not so great narrator
A fascinating insight into the world of professional cycling and the lengths they go to to be competitive and to win. however the book is somewhat let down by the narrator's style...would've been much better if Tyler himself had done it
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1 person found this helpful
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- Gareth
- 07-11-12
The Truth Will Out!
Tyler Hamilton, pro-cyclist, Lance Armstrong team mate, Olympic Gold Medalist, Doper, Cheat, Human being. The book tells the story of Tyler Hamilton, how he became a professional cyclist, how he was one of Lance Armstrong's closest team mates, how he was doping on an almost industrial scale (but not quite as much as Lance, EPO, blood transfusions, Human Growth Hormone, Testostorone etc). I bought this book partly to get insight into Lance Armstrong (LA). Before buying the book I suspected that LA was a doper. By the end of the very detailed, but entertaining, book, I came to understand how LA had obviously had kept one step ahead of the other (many) dopers and in essence how his 7 TdF titles was as much down to his willingness to go that extra mile in cheating and in keeping the competition from getting access to the latest drugs and cheating techniques. It also reveals how LA is quite a bully, a ruthless one at that. But the book is not written as a character assassination of LA. It's the story of how a human being, made mistakes and how he has been affected by those mistakes. The moral of the book is: If you are going to live a lie, don't expect to sleep easy at night (unless you are one of those rare people who lacks a conscience). The author of the book also gives insight by speaking to and about other characters involved in pro-cycling and by the depth of research he has done which underlines the credibility of the story. Overall a very well researched and written story.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Stuart
- 26-11-23
Outstanding!
Incredible story, endearingly told by both the author and Tyler. I could not stop listening.
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- Pen Name
- 12-05-23
Honesty and Truth throughout
loved it, so honest, insightful, and inspirational.
Great to here the story from a rider within who hasn't held back on the truth. Just goes to show how much cheating goes on in sport.
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- Mr. D. J. Pritchard
- 01-05-23
Honest
An open and honest account of life behind the handlebars when dropping was the only way to get to the top in cycling.
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