Customer Reviews

Breaking the Chain: Drugs and Cycling: The True Story

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This book was a very interesting read. The Festina professional cycling team trainer gets caught at a border checkpoint with his team's drug supply for the upcoming Tour de France - and to no one's surprise, the team doesn't back him up (at least not initially).

The book is translated from French, and even though Voet is not a professional author, it's still better written than most of the professional-athlete biographies I've read - many of which were written by ghost writers anyway. Voet was courageous enough to come forward - even though he was probably financially motivated, to at least some degree, after his team essentially abandoned him when he (i.e. they) got caught. As your riders used to say, "Good stuff, Willy!"

It was one of those moments in time that changed the course of a sport. In July 1998, while traveling from Brussels to Belgium, the vehicle that Festina trainer Willy Voet was driving was pulled over by customs inspectors on the Franco-Belgium border. What was found in a routine inspection blew open the dirty secret of the rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs under the direction of team officials.

A concealed storage area inside the vehicle was found with drugs earmarked for use in the Tour de France. Voet was arrested and the Festina cycling team was suspended from the prestigious event. An investigation led to the suspension, arrest and prosecution of a number of riders and team staff members. Voet was ultimately convicted of crimes in this sordid affair, given a ten month suspended sentence and fined, while also being banned from the sport for three years.

In this disturbing insider's account of tainted athletic achievement, Voet - while admitting guilt - places his deeds firmly within the realm of a culture where victory at any cost is the price tag. As unsettling as some sections may be, Voet does not sprint away from the reality of pro cycling or point fingers at others for his misdeeds.

These are vials of truth about the syringes ultimately filled with cheating and lying.

I was a die-hard fan of professional cycling for decades.
I raced as an amateur for several years and followed the careers of all the big name riders.
I thought these young men in this sport were talented, hard-working, conscientious athletes.

I was wrong.
I was very naive.

I will never again watch a pro-cycling event either on TV or a DVD release of some famous race coverage. If pro cycling isn't the dirtiest sport on earth, it certainly must be in the top three for either illegal, unethical, and/or unsportsman-like activity.
The UCI is really part of the problem, not the source of the doping / cheating solution.

I read these books:
From Lance to Landis (Walsh),
A Dog in a Hat (Parkin),
The Crooked Path to Victory (Woodland),
Rough Ride (Kimmage)

Willy Voet's, "Breaking the Chain: Drugs and Cycling: The True Story" was the best of these books, not for its reading style, but because of the depth of content.

The level of drug taking in professional cycling has the "trunk" finally opened on the teams "medical programs". I have some sympathy for Voet about being handled roughly by the police but, sure, he knew exactly what was going on since he was part of the "unspoken alliance" between riders and teams about drug use in the Tour and other races in Europe. He was being played as the scapegoat for the Festina's Team upper bosses but finally got some help when Director and Doctor confessed. Unfortunately, after a long career in cycling he is still blacklisted from the sport. For all of the recreational cyclists and fans who think their idols are superhuman, take a deeper look into the long and dark side of PED's in bike racing.

While this is anything but a masterpiece, it's a book that had to be written. A story that had to be told. And judging by the continued show of doping (drug use) in professional cycling, a story that needs to be told repeatedly.

Willy Voet was the trainer for the infamous Festina team who was caught driving over the French border with a carload full of performance enhancing drugs, just before the 1998 Tour de France. Voet at first claimed the drugs were all his. Then, he recanted under pressure, admitting they were for his team. The team dropped out of the Tour, as did many others under police crackdowns, and Voet went to jail for 16 months. When he got out, he forever cemented his career to ruin by spiling his guts in this book (originally in French, "Assembly Line Massacre" - a fitting title). He wrote this very detailed, very disturbing, morbid read of some very sinister goings on. Unfortunately led by himself perhaps most of all. If you want to know most (not all, but most) of the deep, dirty, nasty, evil goings on in professional cycling that is never spoken of, then read this book. In the 6 years since it's publication, sadly not much has changed judging by the frequent positive tests, and admissions of guilt by riders.

There is a negative to this book though. First, while Voet honestly admits what he was doing was wrong, he seems to want to shake some element from his torrid past, like coming clean is a way for forgiveness, yet in reflections in other areas of the book treats much of the cheating he did in his career as matter of fact, almost with amusement, with only fleeting elements of remorse. Honest or not, coming from a man with a rather sinister past, it makes the book hard to read at times. One might also come away reading this book feeling empty from a lack of hard facts. While there is no denying what he did, and what others do, there needs to be another book written on this subject. One written from more researched, fact based information. There are many studies, admissions from riders, positive tests, arrests, lawsuits, etc. to fill binders of information. Some journalist with guts needs to sift through all that information and put together an old-school, hard jouranlistic, non-emotional, fact based book on this nasty subject. Until that time, if you want to know about the deep details of drug use in professional cycling from a few short years ago, this is about all there is. And taken within the context of who the author is, it should be recommended reading for all young athletes.

Breaking the Chain: Druga and Cycling - The True Story by Willy Voet is a quick read but quite informative. Assuming his story is as true as the title suggests, it is surely an eye opener. Because of the translation of the book, it is cumbersome to read at times, but for any cycling fan interested in the dark side of the sport, it is a necessary read.

Breaking the Chain was a truely disappointing book for me. Although the sub-title is "the true story" it seemed that the text reflected more innuendo than it did "truth" concerning drug use in the cycling world. In a time when the cycling world is trying to get back on it's feet after being rocked with gossip about drug use (particularly EPO), the book seems to add to, rather than take away from, the culture of rumor. I finished the book with the feeling that the author wrote it not to inform the world of drug use in professional cycling, but rather as a means of making money (now that he was without employment). I am sorry that I may have contributed to his retirement fund by purchasing the book.

There is a mistake with the price of this book. This book is being sold at $10 everywhere else, including B&N. Please correct it as it doesn't reflect well on Amazon. Thank you.