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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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The Secret Race
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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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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Angela
- 11-05-17
fascinating book
even if you are not a cyclist you will be astonished by the lengths cyclist went to win at any costs. a real eye opener...
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Alan P. Jones
- 08-09-18
Great in sight into the tour de France and doping
Really enjoyed this book, great insight into the life of a, pro racer and the lengths they went to win, doping was the key to success in that era.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Julian Bigg
- 05-08-22
A gripping story of guts and gear.
The pain and endurance of Tyler's story is astonishing, with hindsight that the Dark Overload and uber user Lance has been finally caught makes the ending less painful.
It's totally understandable after 1000 days of losing to superhumans and suffering of extreme exhaustion from over racing why they flip.
Tyler comes across as a decent and fierce competitor, racing at a time when narcotics were simply unavoidable if you wanted to compete.
Seeing Pogacar's and Vinegaard's amazing battle in the 2022 Tour, we just have to hope they are clean and the playing field is level. Sadly money and global brand exposure is still so important as always was.
Great book, highly recommended 👌
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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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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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Eamon Green
- 14-07-16
Excellent insight
An excellent insight into pro cycling which really helps understand what makes a dedicated athlete resort to doping.
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- Dave the shopper
- 05-08-15
F**k you Lance
I very revealing book. It has given me a new view on professional cycling, and endurance sport in general. Unfortunately it leaves me unsure of whether any performance in down to hard work or doping
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 02-07-14
Fascinating
Would you listen to The Secret Race again? Why?
Yes I would and I have. A very interesting book, about the pressures of riding bikes at the to level in the late 90 & early 00's
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Secret Race?
Many stand out moments, Hamilton Grinding down his teeth, bike riding is like jumping out your car at 40mph into a pile of metal in your underpants, the simplicity of avoiding drug testers, the lengths these guys go to to dope. Amazing
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 14-12-12
Amazing
Best book I have listened to in a long time, I found myself strangely admiring the whole doping culture. The lengths these people have gone to is phenomenal. I was and am a big Lance Armstrong fan but you have to hand it to him he trained harder than most in the sport and pushed himself and his team to the very limits.
Although Tyler Hamilton is very critical of Armstrong you can detect that even he finds the guy amazing.
Awesome listen
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- James Harding
- 18-10-17
Simply brilliant..
The whole book from start to finish was absolutely brilliant. Cycling has a long way to come to fully recover.
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- Abs
- 04-08-13
excellent
Excellent book. Well worth listening. Amazing to have the inside story from someone who was right at the top of their sport. Very well written and very well read. It was a pleasure to buy and listen to this book. Big up everyone involved. Thanks
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