Expose earns cycling book top award

FORMER Tour de France rider Tyler Hamilton and writer Daniel Coyle have scooped this year’s William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award for The Secret Race, a groundbreaking exposé about the culture of doping in professional cycling.

Claiming the greatest honour in sportswriting, The Secret Race created news headlines earlier this year, and has been widely described as the most damning indictment yet of Tour winners, such as Tyler’s former team-mate Lance Armstrong.

Announced by John Inverdale at a ceremony a Waterstone’s Piccadilly, Europe’s largest bookstore, The Secret Race was hailed by judges as “a landmark publication”.

William Hill spokesman and co-founder of the prize, Graham Sharpe, said: “The mysterious world of cycling holds a certain fascination in the public consciousness – now more than ever following the recent home-grown success in the sport. The Secret Race lifts the lid on that world and delivers a shocking and jaw-droppingly frank account of what it’s like to compete at the highest level.”

A team-mate of Armstrong on the US Postal Service cycling team during the 
1999, 2000 and 2001 Tour de France competitions, Hamilton appeared at the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games, winning a gold medal at the latter.

Just weeks after claiming 
gold, he was found guilty of doping and was exiled from 
the sport.