Lance Armstrong - Daniel Coyle

Famous for his bravery in conquering cancer to become a champion again, cyclist Lance Armstrong rewrote the record books again in 2004 when he won the Tour de France for a sixth time. This book follows his progress, and those of his rivals, throughout a fascinating season of racing.

The world's most challenging athletic endeavour is also one of the biggest and most popular annual sports events in the world. The 2004 race witnessed Texan Lance Armstrong clinch his sixth Tour de France victory - something that no other rider has achieved in the event's 100-year history.

This book will look into the unprecedented build up to the Tour, focusing on Armstrong's season and on the physical and mental limits of endurance through which he forced himself. Starting off in February when he made his annual move to Girona in Spain where preparation for the Tour becomes all-consuming, all the details of his hyper-masochistic training regime will be unveiled, from sleeping in an altitude tent to the miles of gruelling time in the saddle, often riding through the pain barrier.

We see Armstrong operating at the turbulent centre of a fast-orbiting cast of Belgian tough-guys, controversial Italian sports doctors, New Age healers, attack-dog lawyers, obsessed fans, and jittery corporations (not to mention his girlfriend, the rock star Sheryl Crow). We see the subtle mind games he plays with his U.S. Postal Team, his opponents, and himself. We see him through the eyes of competitors and his close circle of friends, and his powerful relationship with his mother Linda is explored. We see what happens three weeks before the Tour, when Armstrong is faced with a double challenge: a blowout defeat in an important race and the release of a potentially devastating book about his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. And finally we'll see it all culminate in the Tour de France, the hardest sports event on the planet, where Armstrong will rise to new and unprecedented levels of domination.

Above all, Armstrong's motivational strengths and burning desire to achieve will be the focus of a book that celebrates a unique sporting phenomenon. It promises to be a fascinating inside look at history in the making and the colourful world of pro cycling.