"The great sports novel—and it couldn’t get any more suspenseful."— The World

The thrilling novel of the rise and fall of a young European cycling star. Bud is like Lance Armstrong himself—powerful, good-looking, talented in hillclimbs and time trials, in all aspects of the race. Beloved by fans, he is the favorite to win the Tour and become the next immortal of the sport. But his enemies prove stronger yet—through dirty riding, clandestine doping, and other subterfuges, they conspire to bring him down. And ultimately, his own hubris and uncontrolled sexual and financial appetites finish him off. This novel is a stunning portrait of the Tour de France as a metaphor for life itself.