Product Description

On 8 July 1998 Festina team soigneur Willy Voet was stopped by the police. In his car were the drugs the team needed if they were to have any chance of playing a competitive part in the 1998 Tour de France. The car was searched, he was immediately arrested and so the story that has been undermining the sport of cycling for over 30 years, was at last exposed. Cocaine, amphetamines, EPO, heroin - all these are now considered not optional but necessary, not to win but just to compete in the Tour de France. Details of how these drugs are obtained, mixed together to make cocktails, administered and concealed are all included in this graphic and uninhibited account.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13662 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-06
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The publishing of Breaking the Chain must surely rub salt into cycling's ugly wounds. The sport is still reeling from the explosion of controversy that was sparked by the arrest of Team Festina backroom staff member Willy Voet and his cargo of narcotics, on the Franco-Belgian border on July 8, 1998. The subsequent police investigation uncovered a drugs scandal that destroyed that year's Tour de France but Voet sensationally claims in Breaking The Chain, endemic cheating has been at the heart of the sport for years.

Voet's role as team "pharmacist"--ferrying and administering the cocktails of performance-enhancing drugs--made him the invisible hand that shaped the fortunes of one of the sport's most successful teams and he spares little detail in relating how it was done. Step-by-step guides to the business of "charging" on amphetamines and testosterone, administering mid-race injections and the secrets of beating the dope tests, are revealed for the first time.

.You slip the part of the tube fitted with the condom up the backside, inject clean urine up the tube ... cork it and stick it to the skin following the line of the perineum as far as the testicles ... this system was never bettered ... I used it for three years without any worries.

This is an astonishing story and Voet's is an amusing, candid voice--strong on the thrills of cheating and on the horrors of being caught--but given the ongoing investigations, and that fact the Voet, along with other senior members of the Festina team, is living under the cloud of a suspended prison sentence, it is hard to gauge whether the author's version of events has itself been "doctored". He names specific individuals related to the Festina case but protects the identities of other cheats that he claims operated on the pro circuit and it remains to be seen whether the full story of the scandal has now been told. --Alex Hankin

Independent
"A moving and spirited account of lying and cheating on behalf of some of the biggest names in cycling"

Time Out
"A truly horrifying book"

Customer Reviews

Shocking account of how bad things are
This book provides a shocking account of Willy Voets experience in his many years in professional cycling. For someone that has no idea about cycling, I'm sure the contents of the book would be almost inmpossible to believe. For those that follow cycling (like myself) it's still a shock.
The book isn't all that well written, its written in a very informal tone, with the occasional use of bad grammer, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book.
I think there are better books out there which give a more detailled acount of life in the proessional peleton, but for the price of it, I'd recommend this book to anyone.

Badly written, but still interesting!
I'm not a cyclist and never have been. I have watched the Tour De France for years though, amazed at the strength and stamina of the riders. Now I know how many of them have done it - through the comprehensive and systematic use of a huge range of drugs.

This book is written by a masseur who worked with many top teams and riders for years and was heavily involved in the drug culture in professional cycling.

It's badly written and it's hard to follow in places. I guess if you know your cycling history and names, it would be easier. But it is also full of stories and anecdotes about drug taking, told in such a casual way that makes it both shocking and fascinating for anyone interested in sport.

The writer tries hard to elicit your sympathy for the fact he got caught and had little choice but to own up. He is angry with others in the sport whom he helped cheat, for abandoning him. Yet I felt no sympathy for him whatsoever. It's clear that getting caught was the only thing that stopped him being there today doing the same thing.

The sheer scale of the cheating is what made this an interesting read. It leaves you wondering if every rider or every sportsperson for that matter is a cheat. For me it reaffirms the need to leave no stone unturned in ridding sport of drugs.

I need to know that Lance Armstrong is naturally as remarkable a sports man as he appears, so that you can continue to marvel at what is possible.

Willy Voet
If you can read some french get the original and a dictionary.
I read it when it fisrt came out, in between watching the tdf in the alps, which gave it more impact.

yes its not written brilliantly, but reads more like the man telling his story, rather than trying to make it into a hollywood movie!

it incriminates some very famous cyclists and makes you wonder to what level doping is currently happening in sport.

recommended to anyone interested in cycling/ athletics etc.