The Descent - Softcover

Dekker, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1785036580 ISBN 13: 9781785036583

Publisher: Ebury Press, 2017

Synopsis

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 years―the height of the EPO era―and 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.

About this title

Book Description:

In his tell-all book DESCENT: My Epic Fall from Cycling Superstardom to Doping Dead End, elite professional cyclist Thomas Dekker reveals a sordid way of life full of blood bags, drugs, prostitutes, and money.

From the Back Cover:

A BRUTAL PORTRAIT OF LIFE AT THE TOP

At age 20, Thomas Dekker was earning $150,000 a year―as an amateur bike racer. The next year, he turned pro and was soon swimming in more than $1 million as he established his place on one of Europe’s wealthiest superteams.

As quickly as he rose, though, Dekker found himself drowning in a corrupting shower of blood bags, drugs, prostitutes, and money, and cracking under the pressure to perform at a superhuman level.

In this fast-paced, tell-all memoir, Dekker delivers a page-turning tear through one man’s rise, fall, and redemption during cycling’s EPO-fueled boom years. And Dekker is not alone: He names those who fell with him and those who aided his downfall. Yet he blames no one but himself.

You won’t be able to turn away from this unflinching look at the sordid truth about the European peloton and what it reveals about professional sports.

“The most shocking doping memoir professional cycling has produced.” ―Daniel Friebe, author of Eddy Merckx: The Cannibal

“Each chapter is a conscious move toward self-destruction, and when the end arrives, the reader, too, feels ruined.” ―Erik Raschke, CyclingTips

About this edition

• Publisher: Ebury Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1785036580
• ISBN 13: 9781785036583
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224