Customer Reviews

Bad Blood

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Bad Blood, just like "From Lance to Landis" was a book I couldn't put down until I read the whole thing. Then I enjoyed reading it again. This is not an enjoyable subject of course but interesting to anyone who cares about pro cycling. As one who got excited about pro cycling back in the early 80's when Greg LeMond was taking on the best, my cycling history is a bit longer than the writer's but I found myself feeling the same feelings he described as one cheater after another is exposed. I may not be quite as cynical as the author but I do hope for the day when sporting ethics might overtake commercial interests---but I'm not holding my breath!

I got this book in the aftermath of the 2010 ProTour cycling season and Contador's (among many other Spanish riders) positive tests. Although detailing events of the mid 1990s thru Armstrong's Tour de France career and therefore could be seen as dated, it does provide both perspective and context of why doping in cycling occurs, its systemic nature, and to what extent it is nuanced/concealed by cycling's journalists.

In particular, I have a renewed disdain for cycling directors such as Riis, Bruyneel, and Aldag as well as the weird relationships that cyclists & managers have with the UCI and their own national sport agencies.

THere is a a fair amount of information about operation Puerto- which could be seen as Festina II and the author fleshes out the damage control that occurred in its aftermath. Some folks were scapegoats and others, probably just as guilty, suffered little or no consequences.

All in all, a good revealing read although it seemed to lag a bit at the end.