One Way Ticket

ONE WAY TICKET is the story of a man and modern cycling. Jonathan Vaughters is one of the leading figures in world cycling, a record-breaking mountain climber, Tour de France stage winner and former teammate to Lance Armstrong. He is now manager and influential figurehead of the renowned Education First World Tour team. In ONE-WAY TICKET: Nine Lives and Two Wheels he describes a journey from driven teenage prodigy, travelling to races in the back of his Dad's station wagon, to an obsessive determination to make it big in European racing - whatever the cost. He tells the story of his transformation from poacher to gamekeeper, detailing his painful decision to finally come clean about his own descent into doping - and to persuade others to do likewise - by providing more than enough shocking testimony to USADA (US Anti-Doping Agency) to explode the Armstrong myth. Working in collaboration with Jeremy Whittle, former cycling correspondent to The Times, now writing for The Guardian, Vaughters reveals the ease with which, his illusions shattered, he walked away from European racing. He documents his own suffering in races, the trials of establishing a team and mentoring young riders, and the dizzying highs of success in races such as the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Paris-Roubaix. Vaughters' long and winding road mirrors that of cycling itself, as this compelling but troubled sport still struggles, after years of scandal, to restore its credibility. Along the way, he shares his unique experience to lift the lid on a world he has both loathed and loved, detailing the fights and fall-outs with cycling's leading figures, including Lance Armstrong, Pat McQuaid, Johan Bruyneel, Bradley Wiggins and Dave Brailsford. (P)2019 Quercus Editions Limited