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Lance Armstrong's War
One Man's Battle Against Fate,
Fame, Love, Death, Scandal, and
a Few Other Rivals on the Road
to the Tour de France
Lance Armstrong’s War is the extraordinary story of greatness pushed to its limits. It is the vivid, behind-the-scenes portrait of Armstrong—perhaps the most accomplished athlete of our time—as he faces his biggest test: an historic sixth straight victory in the Tour de France, the toughest sporting event on the planet.
Made newly vulnerable by age, fate, fame, doping allegations, and an unprecedented army of challengers, Armstrong fights on all fronts to do what he does like no one else: exert his will to win. That will, which has famously lifted him beyond his humble Texas roots, beyond cancer, and to unparalleled heights of success, is revealed by award-winning journalist Daniel Coyle in new and startling dimension.
We see how Armstrong rebuilds after his near-loss in the 2003 Tour, discovering new strategies to cope with his aging body. We see how he fills the holes in his life after his painful divorce from his wife, Kristin, and his ensuing time apart from his three young children. We see how he manages the exceedingly difficult trick of being Lance Armstrong—a combination of world-class athlete, celebrity, regular guy, and, for many Americans, secular saint.
But a saint’s life it’s not. To function at his peak, Armstrong requires what his friends artfully call “stimulus”—and if it’s lacking, he won’t hesitate to create some. We see Armstrong operating at the turbulent center of a fast-orbiting cast of swaggering Belgian tough-guys, controversial Italian sports doctors, piranha-toothed lawyers, and jittery corporations, not to mention a certain female rock star. We see the subtle mind games he plays with himself and with top rivals Tyler Hamilton, Jan Ullrich, and Iban Mayo. We see him through the eyes of teammates, friends, and other denizens of the Darwinian world of professional bike racing. We see what happens three weeks before the Tour, when he’s faced with a double challenge: a blowout defeat in an important race and the release of a potentially devastating book that alleges he may have used performance-enhancing drugs. And finally we see it all culminate in the Tour de France, where Armstrong will rise to new and unexpected levels of domination.
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