Tyler Hamilton
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- This article is about the cyclist. For the Canadian Idol contestant, see Tyler Hamilton (musician).
Tyler Hamilton (born March 1, 1971 in Marblehead, Massachusetts) is an American professional road bicycle racer. He is a former ski racer and became a pro in 1995 and rode for the U.S. Postal Service cycling team in the 1998, 1999 and 2000 editions of Tour de France. Hamilton is widely credited with setting up Lance Armstrong the following year in the mountain stages for Armstrong's first Tour de France win, often acting as a scout in the individual time trial stages by riding as hard as possible without regard to his finishing performance and thus providing time split comparisons. Hamilton also consistently performed well in the individual time trials, placing 5th and 3rd.
In 2001 Hamilton left USPS and signed with the CSC-Tiscali team. He was made a team leader under the tutelage of Bjarne Riis. He fractured a shoulder in a crash in the 2002 Giro D'Italia yet still managed to finish second. In 2003 Hamilton won both Ličge-Bastogne-Ličge and the Tour of Romandie. In the 2003 Tour de France Hamilton cracked a collarbone in the first stage, won stage 16 with a 142 km solo breakaway and placed fourth overall. For his stage win, Hamilton was awarded the Coeur de Lion ("Heart of the Lion") prize, awarded to the most aggressive and daring racer of the stage. He has developed a somewhat poor reputation for having bad luck with crashing in the important stage races.
Tyler Hamilton developed a reputation for being a courteous, affable cyclist and spokesperson for the sport, especially in the United States. His wife Haven Hamilton and golden retriever Tugboat became recognizable fixtures at the races, photos, and interviews. Late in 2003, Hamilton founded The Tyler Hamilton Foundation to raise funds for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and to help amateur cyclists rise through the ranks. Hamilton's team was filmed throughout the 2003 Tour for a yet-to-be-released IMAX documentary on how the human brain works under stress.
In the 2004 Tour de France Hamilton raced for Phonak Hearing Systems. He dropped out on stage 13, after having continued back pain, mostly due to bruising incurred in a crash on stage 6. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Hamilton won the gold medal in the men's time trial. That medal was placed in doubt on September 21, 2004, after it was revealed that he had failed a test for blood doping (receiving blood transfusions to boost performance) at the Olympics. At the time Hamilton had just retired from participating in the Vuelta a Espaņa. He won the stage 8 individual time-trial on September 11, 2004, and resigned from the race six days later citing stomach issues. Being the winner of the stage, he was subjected to anti-doping test, and was informed by the IOC on September 13, 2004 that his two test samples from 2 days earlier had showed up positive. Two days after the announcement of his positive test result at Athens, the IOC announced that Hamilton will keep his gold medal, due to the backup sample's results being inconclusive. Rather than simply refrigerating the sample, the Athens lab deep-froze it. This allowed the sample to deteriorate, making it unable to be tested properly.
Hamilton's career is currently in limbo, and his guilt or innocence has been the subject of extensive debate in the cycling community. Despite initially supporting Hamilton, his Phonak team manager withdrew their support after a second member of the team Santiago Perez was also found positive for the same offense at the Vuelta a Espaņa. Both riders have since been fired from the team, which at the time was fighting for inclusion in the UCI ProTour. On April 18, 2005 he was sentenced by the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) to a two-year suspension from professional cycling, the maximum sentence for a first-time offence. In addition, he will not be allowed to sign with another UCI ProTour team within a four year period from his first positive. Hamilton intends to appeal the ruling with the Court of Arbitration for Sport by May 6, 2005.
External links
- Tyler Hamilton Official Website (http://www.tylerhamilton.com/)
- Tyler Hamilton Foundation Website (http://www.tylerhamiltonfoundation.org/)
- Tyler Hamilton (http://www.rogerthatsports.com/archives/2005/05/tyler_hamilton.html) A hero embattled
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