Tyler Hamilton

Tyler Hamilton (born March 1, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racer.

After graduating in 1990, he attended the University of Colorado at Boulder as a ski racer but never finished the final semester of his BA degree course in economics.

A back injury (two broken vertebrae while mountain bike training on ski jump) at the University of Colorado developmental ski team in September 1991 ended his skiing, and he switched to cycling.

Hamilton became a professional cyclist in 1995 with the US Postal Service cycling team.

He turned pro in 1995 for the Montgomery Bell Cycling team which later became the U.S. Postal Service cycling team and raced for them in the 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 Tour de France.

Hamilton protected Lance Armstrong in the mountains, and was on Armstrong's first three Tour de France winning Postal squads and quickly grew to stardom.

Hamilton acted as a scout in individual time trials, riding as hard as possible to provide time-split comparisons for Armstrong.

He was a teammate of Lance Armstrong during the 1999, 2000 and 2001 Tours de France, where Armstrong won the general classification.

He was a key asset for Armstrong, being a very good climber as well as time-trialist.

During this time he won the 1999 Danmark Rundt and the 2000 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, winning stages 4 and 5.

Hamilton appeared at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics.

In 2001, Hamilton left U.S. Postal for Team CSC.

He was made a leader under manager Bjarne Riis.

Hamilton fractured a shoulder in a crash in the 2002 Giro d'Italia but still managed to win stage 14 and finish second overall, under 2 minutes behind race winner Paolo Savoldelli.

Later that year, he participated in the 2002 Tour de France, riding in support of Carlos Sastre and finished 15th overall.

He is the only American rider to win one of the five Monuments of cycling, taking Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2003.

In 2003, Hamilton became the first American rider to win Liège–Bastogne–Liège, breaking away from a select group of riders around four kilometers from the line in wet conditions.

He later won the Tour de Romandie that year, as he prepared to race the Tour de France.

In the 2003 Tour de France he broke his collarbone on the first stage in a pile-up.

Instead of withdrawing from the race, he stayed to finish the tour, and exceeded everyone's expectations when he was able to follow and attack Armstrong up Alpe d'Huez on stage 8.

Later, he rode one of the Tour's most memorable feats, winning stage 16 with a 142 km solo breakaway, gaining two minutes over the field.

For his stage win, Hamilton was awarded the Coeur de Lion prize (French for Heart of the Lion, the name of the cheese maker that sponsored the award), as the most daring racer of the stage.

He finished the 2003 Tour de France 4th overall and returned home nationally recognized.

In 2004, he won a gold medal at the individual time trial.

The first doping test after his Olympic victory gave a positive result, but because the backup sample was frozen, no doping offence could be proven.

After he failed further doping tests at the 2004 Vuelta a España, Hamilton was suspended for two years from the sport.

In 2004, Hamilton left Team CSC and joined the Phonak Hearing Systems.

He assembled a team of good, well-known riders and prepared for racing in the upcoming Tour de France, winning the 2004 Tour of Romandie for the second year in a row.

Furthermore, he placed 2nd in the 2004 Dauphine Libere, beating Armstrong up the Mont Ventoux time trial which promoted him to one of the Tour de France favorites.

However, in the 2004 Tour de France he dropped out on stage 13, after back pain mostly due to a crash on stage 6.

His former wife, Haven Hamilton and golden retriever Tugboat became recognizable at the races, appearing in photos and interviews.

Hamilton came back after his suspension and became national road race champion in 2008.

The bicycle racing publication VeloNews reported that Hamilton and his wife Haven amicably separated in spring 2008 after nine years' marriage, and the couple subsequently divorced.

In 2009, Hamilton failed a doping test again, and was banned for eight years, which effectively caused him to retire.

Hamilton disclosed in an interview in April 2009 that he had been treated for depression for six years.

In July 2010, he was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury for the use of performance-enhancing drugs in cycling.

In May 2011, Hamilton admitted that he had used banned substances in competition, and returned his gold medal.

In 2012, he co-authored a book The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs, which details his doping practices and experience in the world of cycling.

On August 10, 2012 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped Hamilton of his 2004 gold medal.

Hamilton was raised in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and attended Holderness School in Plymouth, New Hampshire, where he started cycling.