Lance Armstrong: The World's Greatest Champion, By John Wilcockson

He has overcome several remarkable challenges, but this book gives Lance Armstrong too easy a ride

Few sportsmen of comparable global standing have divided opinion quite like Lance Armstrong. Pele, Muhammad Ali, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Don Bradman, Jesse Owens. These are people whose greatness is a matter of complete consensus. But Armstrong?

Let us not doubt for a moment that, in terms of his achievements, the American cyclist belongs in such company. Cycling is as hard a sport as there is, and the Tour de France its ultimate test. Between 1903, the year the race was first held, and 1999, four men managed to win the race five times. Then Armstrong came along and won it seven times in a row. And does anyone need reminding that he did this after testicular cancer had nearly killed him? This year, he has come out of retirement at the age of 37 to have yet another go.

But Armstrong remains a hugely contentious figure. To millions of people all over the world – especially cancer sufferers – he is a true hero, an inspiration, proof that you can overcome seemingly insurmountable odds if the spirit is willing and you want something badly enough. Others see him very differently.

Armstrong – brash, prickly, seemingly too much of a machine – has never exactly embodied the romance of cycling. The French, ever sensitive to American cultural imperialism, thoroughly resented a man from the land of McDonald's taking over one of their most treasured institutions (though they seem to have warmed to him somewhat on his return). And, crucially, his feats were so improbable that many believed there could be only one explanation: drugs. He wouldn't be the first cyclist to seek such assistance, would he?

All of this means that one big question hangs over any book about Armstrong. Which side is the author on? Are we talking scepticism? Or are Armstrong's deeds simply accepted as those of a remarkable human being? So the first thing to be said about John Wilcockson's appraisal of Armstrong's life – thoroughly readable though it is – is that it falls firmly into the latter camp. While a fascinating, very well put-together portrait full of insights into its subject's personality, the book is never anything other than completely pro-Armstrong. It really is all down to his will to win.

It's fairly clear where we are as early as the opening chapter, in which we discover that Wilcockson is on good enough terms with Armstrong for the cyclist to email him for advice on whether to make a comeback and ride one more Tour. Armstrong's critics will probably regard the book as a whitewash.

Armstrong, it must be stressed, has never failed a drugs test, and likes to point out that he must be one of the most tested cyclists there's ever been. But there are those who would point to circumstantial evidence that suggests he may not have been clean at all times – including associations with people who have been drug-tainted – and you don't have to be rabidly anti-Armstrong to wish that this evidence had received rather more consideration than is the case in this book. Although Wilcockson has been assiduous in tracking down large numbers of people of importance in the Armstrong story, and invariably gets good things out of them, you feel he is only really interested in seeing Armstrong from one angle.

As a narrative, however, it's gripping stuff. Wilcockson – one of the most experienced of cycling writers – is particularly good on Armstrong's troubled upbringing in suburban Texas. His mother, Linda, was only 17 when he was born. Money was tight. Her hurried marriage to Armstrong's father soon failed. Her second marriage failed when Armstrong was in his teens, by which time he had turned into a bit of a tearaway. An only child, Armstrong always had phenomenal athletic gifts and an unquenchable competitive zeal. He started out as a triathlete, and the stories of how he took on and beat kids much older than himself, earning a few dollars in prize money, and then quite a lot of dollars, have a real picaresque quality.

The adult dramas – the rise to cycling prominence and his domination of the Tour, the cancer and the setting up of his cancer foundation, his marriage, fatherhood, divorce, and his relationship with Sheryl Crow – are better known, but in Wilcockson's hands they remain rich in the re-telling, and much is added to our understanding of a tumultuous life. Just don't look to this book to knock Armstrong off his pedestal.