Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Descent: My Epic Fall from Cycling Superstardom to Doping Dead End
    Unavailable
    Descent: My Epic Fall from Cycling Superstardom to Doping Dead End
    Unavailable
    Descent: My Epic Fall from Cycling Superstardom to Doping Dead End
    Ebook192 pages2 hours

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

    By Thomas Dekker and Thijs Zonneveld

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherVeloPress
    Release dateDec 5, 2017
    ISBN9781937716967
    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.

    Read more from Thomas Dekker

    Related to Descent

    Related ebooks

    Sports & Recreation For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Truth About Running

      Feb 4, 2019

      The Truth About Running
      8 min read

    • Article

      A BLESSED Life

      Oct 30, 2021

      A BLESSED Life
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Right Ending

      Oct 21, 2021

      The Right Ending
      3 min read

    • Article

      Going strong

      Nov 26, 2020

      Going strong
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Hit Book That Came From Mars: The Martian started as a self-published blog, and became a major motion picture.

      Jan 8, 2015

      The story of Andy Weir is a strange mix of fact and fiction. There’s the fairy tale success of his book, The Martian, which he self-published on his blog for free, intended for the few thousand fans he’d accumulated over years of hobby writing. Some

      10 min read

    • Article

      Chris Hemsworth

      Oct 5, 2023

      7 HE PLAYS THE God of Thunder, and we know him as an invincible superhero—and Aussie-family bro—so when Hemsworth was hit with a genetic lightning bolt, it hit all of us. He took a genetic test for Limitless with Chris Hemsworth, the Nat Geo document

      5 min read

    • Article

      Joe Namath - Still in the Game

      Apr 13, 2021

      Joe Namath - Still in the Game
      12 min read

    • Article

      Risk: An Accounting

      Oct 2, 2018

      Risk: An Accounting
      14 min read

    • Article

      Frank’s Famous Last Words

      Apr 24, 2023

      Frank’s Famous Last Words
      3 min read

    • Article

      Table Talk

      Sep 1, 2021

      Table Talk
      11 min read

    • Article

      Anthem Of Our Crazy Age

      Nov 2, 2022

      MY old friend Ena planned every detail of her funeral. When she told me that she had written the eulogy to be delivered by her daughter, I said: ‘Don’t you think that’s cheating?’ ‘No!’ She snapped. ‘I want to set the record straight. I was a very go

      4 min read

    • Article

      My Dad Sold Fords

      May 1, 2023

      My Dad Sold Fords
      6 min read

    • Article

      Mew

      Dec 15, 2018

      Mew
      3 min read

    • Article

      Dear Frankie

      Aug 1, 2021

      Dear Frankie
      19 min read

    • Article

      Four Poems

      Jan 1, 2024

      I’ve always been an easy crier (let it come, not ashamed, never held it back in joy or grief, and wherever … subway, teaching, grocery store, (oh the desolate grocery store during the height of Covid) but now, the welling up: that’s daily now. —Lia P

      5 min read

    • Article

      Why I Don’t Write

      Mar 7, 2019

      Why I Don’t Write
      6 min read

    • Article

      Chitchat

      May 28, 2018

      Chitchat
      7 min read

    Reviews for Descent

    4.5/5

    5 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 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.

      1 person found this helpful