The Black Jersey: A Novel

"There are cyclists willing to die to win a single leg of the Tour, taking suicidal descents at more than 90 kilometres per hour; but I also know there are cyclists willing to kill to win." Marc Moreau, a professional cyclist with a military past, is part of a top Tour de France team led by his best friend, an American star favoured to win this year's Tour. But the competition takes a dark turn when racers begin to drop out in a series of violent "accidents." The teams and their entourages retreat into paranoid lockdown, even as they must continue racing each day. Marc agrees to help the French police with their investigations from the inside and becomes convinced the culprit is a cyclist who wants to win at any cost. But as the victim count rises, the number of potential murderers-and potential champions-dwindles. Marc begins to have the sickening realization that it's his own team who has been most favoured by the murderer's actions, and in the final stages of the race, Mark himself emerges as the only cyclist left who could possibly beat his best friend and win the Tour. Who can Marc trust? Who should he protect? What will he pick if he's asked to choose between justice, loyalty, and glory?