Lance: The Making of the World's Greatest Champion Book

This book primarily describes Lance Armstrong's life prior to winning his first Tour de France. Wilcockson has interviewed a lot of people from Lance's childhood and early years in cycling, providing a different perspective than what you'll find in Lance's autobiographies as well as in books that focus on the Tour (like Lance Armstrong's War). I thought it gave me a more well-rounded view of the formative years of the most controversial champion in cycling history.

Reading this book knowing full-well what Lance has admitted about blood doping, as well as having read The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton, a lot of the arguments in Lance's "clean" defense come across as lame. There is an undercurrent of suspicion provided by Wilcockson, but that undercurrent is subtle. That being said, Wilcockson does an excellent job disappearing into the background and using a lot of quotes from the actual people who lived the events in Lance's life. This book doesn't come across as Wilcockson's interpretation of events full of bias and opinion - it feels like unbiased journalism.

At the end of the day, while the mystique has worn off of the Lance Armstrong, the athlete behind the myth remains interesting.