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    Descent: My Epic Fall from Cycling Superstardom to Doping Dead End
    Descent: My Epic Fall from Cycling Superstardom to Doping Dead End
    Descent: My Epic Fall from Cycling Superstardom to Doping Dead End
    Audiobook5 hours

    Descent: My Epic Fall from Cycling Superstardom to Doping Dead End

    Written by Thomas Dekker and Thijs Zonneveld

    Narrated by Liam Gerrard

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    About this audiobook

    At age twenty, 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 world 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 years-long 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 years-the height of the EPO era-and what we see is shocking. You won't be able to turn away from this compelling book about one man's rise, fall, and redemption and what his story reveals about professional sports.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 17, 2018
    ISBN9781977377609
    Author

    Thomas Dekker

    Thomas Dekker is a Dutch former professional cyclist whose talent on the bike quickly took him to the top of the sport. He raced for The Netherlands in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, won two Dutch National Time Trial Championships, and captured victories in the 2006 Tirreno-Adriatico and the 2007 Tour of Romandie. He rode for the Dutch Rabobank superteam and then Silence-Lotto before a retroactively tested sample returned positive for EPO. In 2009, Dekker was suspended for two years for the drug violation, and it was later confirmed during Operaction Puerto that Dekker was among the clients of Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. After his suspension, Dekker joined the American Garmin Development Team and rode for Garmin-Barracuda from 2012-2014. Dekker claims to have ridden clean for Jonathan Vaughters and he became a popular rider in the American peloton. He retired after an attempt on the World Hour Record in 2015.

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    • 4/5
      This is the most tell-all cycling biography that I have read. Dekker really lays out his performance enhancing drug use. He took it all, EPO, testosterone, human growth hormone, cortisone and more. He did blood doping with the infamous Spanish Dr. Fuentes, where he was patient 24. He also seemed to have issues with drugs, alcohol, and women. I would have liked to know more about what he is doing to make a living today.