Bad Blood, Jeremy Whittle (2009)

The contamination of cycling’s life blood, compellingly chronicled from the press enclosure

Yellow Jersey 9780224080231 paperback 234pp £8.99

Originally titled Ten Years In A Hire Car, this is the tale of Whittle’s experiences as a journalist and later as editor of a cycling magazine rather than a forensic analysis of drugs in sport. It is a tale of press conferences, chance encounters with cyclists, lunch with sponsors and the unconcealed aggression of Lance Armstrong.

Through these Whittle traces what is known for sure, and what is simply rumoured, about how pharmaceutical cheating has become endemic in cycling in the 1990s and the decade since.

As readable as his story is depressing, Whittle argues that drugs divide cycling. There are those who denounce their use, and those who enforce the omerta. And it is not only the riders this affects, but the journalists whose trade has always been so entwined with professional racing.

The colossus bestriding this narrative is, of course, Lance Armstrong. At the start of his story, Whittle has intimate access to the pre-cancer neophyte. By the end, when their paths do cross, the Texan refuses to recognise the author. Other journalists who earn his displeasure are subjected to phone rage and bullying by the seven times Tour winner, says Whittle.

He makes no specific allegations that Armstrong doped, but his disappointment with the American’s behaviour is clear. More than anything, he alleges, Armstrong eschewed the opportunity created by the Festina affair, to seriously distance the road racing from the syringe. Instead, Armstrong became the enforcer of the omerta, publicly humiliating those riders who spoke out against drug use.

Along the route of this sorry saga there are plenty of fascinating details by way of leavening – the Champions Club of cycling obsessed American CEO’s for example and the way in which relationships between journalists affects their approach to the stories they write. There is also a trace of Hornbyesque self discovery between the hotel rooms and hire cars. It is enough to ensure that, while this might not be a happy story, it is a compelling read.

PS Feb 11