Descent

My Epic Fall from Cycling Superstardom to Doping Dead End

Thomas Dekker, Thijs Zonneveld, Thijs Zonneveld

• Publisher: VeloPress
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN:
  9781937716967
• Print ISBN:
  9781948007146

The Award-Winning, International Best-Seller"I have success, money, women. I've been lionized by the public and the press. The world is at my feet. I've spread my wings and here I am, soaring above everything and everyone. But in reality, the descent has already begun." At age 20, Thomas Dekker was already earning €100,000 a year as an amateur bike racer. The next year, he turned pro and his salary quadrupled then rose again to €900,000 as he established his position as a super-domestique among Europe's wealthiest superteams. The sport marveled at Dekker's rise as the young racer set his ambitions on capturing cycling's biggest prizes for himself. Before long, though, Dekker found himself corrupted by money, dazzled by fame, and cracking under the relentless pressure to perform at a superhuman level. In his tell-all book DESCENT: My Epic Fall from Cycling Superstardom to Doping Dead End, Dekker reveals a sordid way of life full of blood bags, drugs, prostitutes, and money. DESCENT tells the story of a yearslong bender that exposes the brutal truth of his life as a professional cyclist. And Dekker is not alone; he names those who fell with him and those who aided in his downfall. In DESCENT, we take an unflinching look at the European peloton as it roars through its modern boom yearsthe height of the EPO eraand what we see is shocking. You won't be able to turn away from this page-turning read about one man's rise, fall, and redemption and what his story reveals about professional sports.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1. In the Hotel
• 2. Dead Ordinary
• 3. Love at First Sight
• 4. First Call
• 5. Junior Camp
• 6. The Commitment
• 7. First Shot
• 8. Jacques the Manager
• 9. Initiation
• 10. A Boost for the Worlds
• 11. The Coach
• 12. The Territory
• 13. Your Blood Is Your Blood
• 14. No Worries
• 15. One Is Not Enough
• 16. Stepping Up
• 17. A Hippie in Love
• 18. The 2007 Tour de France
• 19. It’s You, Not Me
• 20. Trickier Than You’d Think
• 21. Doing Without
• 22. Positively Positive
• 23. Give Them Nothing
• 24. Falling
• 25. Wiped Out
• 26. Lifeline
• 27. Cards on the Table
• 28. Ashes and Embers
• 29. Adrift
• 30. The Stupidest Idea Ever
• 31. The Attempt
• 32. Big Talk, Small Talk, No Talk
• 33. A Turn of the Tables
• 34. The Story of My Descent
• Epilogue
• About the Coauthor