The Award-Winning, International Best-Seller
âI have success, money, women. Iâve been lionized by the public and the press. The world is at my feet. Iâve spread my wings and here I am, soaring above everything and everyone. But in reality, the descent has already begun.â
At age 20, Thomas Dekker was already earning âŹ100,000 a year as an amateur bike racer. The next year, he turned pro and his salary quadrupled then rose again to âŹ900,000 as he established his position as a super-domestique among Europeâs wealthiest superteams. The sport marveled at Dekkerâs rise as the young racer set his ambitions on capturing cyclingâs 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 wonât be able to turn away from this page-turning read about one manâs rise, fall, and redemption and what his story reveals about professional sports.