Kimmage rode with some of the greats of cycling, but was only in the cold shadow of greatness in terms of ability. He details in the book the means taken by some cyclists to climb out of the shadows into the sunshine by taking drugs. His book was brave at the time, he was accused of ‘spitting in the soup’ and lost the friendship of many of his cycling peers for his writing about the drug taking. He was called a liar. But time has revealed through the ‘festina affair’ who were the liars. A good read, but leaves one feeling a little sad to think that sport in general, not just cycling, can be so diseased.