Rouleur

Bob Roll wrote a heartfelt piece on Versus following the news that Tyler Hamilton had (again) failed a doping test:

Tyler Hamilton has once again run afoul of the anti-doping authorities of cycling.  I don’t think I need to explain the first time Tyler Hamilton was found positive. This second infraction makes his denials of his first infraction hollow and even more egregious.  For 5 years Tyler Hamilton has subjected us to a litany of denials that ruined the credibility of the whole sport and not just one athlete.  This second infraction is even more troubling because Tyler admitted that he knew before what he was taking as against the rules. Any person with a brain would understand the scrutiny they would be subjected to at their second and last chance to race clean. For Tyler Hamilton to possess the egotistical conceit that would allow him to continue cheating with drugs while our sport struggles with this monstrosity might be finally the first person to merit a lifetime ban from cycling.
Depression is a serious illness. There are hundreds of anti-depressants available to the millions of people that courageously suffer with this disease.  For Tyler Hamilton to reject the diligence and hard work of the mental health profession who could most certainly work out a therapy that would allow Tyler to minimize the side effects of the one anti-depressant he sites (Celaxa) is inexcusable. Tyler chose to disregard the medical advice of his own doctor and listened to rumors from completely unqualified people as a solution to what can be a very real mental illness.   For Tyler simultaneously to take a massive dump on two industries by reaching for the simple solution is abysmal.

The substance that Tyler Hamilton tested positive is called DHEA. DHEA is a listed ingredient in the over the counter medicine Tyler decided to take for his depression. It is a precursor to the steroid testosterone. It could be argued that the trace elements found in Tyler’s urine have no athletic benefit.  This may be true in a clinical sense but in the real world cycling is reeling from years of doping fraud and more importantly Tyler himself has stated he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that DHEA is a banned substance and chose to take it anyway. The sanctions required to prevent this behavior in the future must be swift and merciless.  It is Tyler’s turn to have mercy on his fans and supporters.
I will be the first person to admit lionizing this man because of his truly amazing performance in the 2003 Tour de France.  With grace and courage Tyler Hamilton doggedly pursued his dreams with a broken collarbone without ever surrendering and eventually winning a spectacular stage and finishing 4th overall.  How shocking now to realize that the emptiness of his dreams extend to my own enjoyment of the sport and being to realize gainful employment form it. That is a bitter pill to swallow. Please pardon the pun.  I would rather know that the sport is clean and that the riders that race clean may never win then have the illusion of grandeur and the glamour of evil perpetrated by Tyler Hamilton. If this latest episode does not want to make you vomit and spontaneously regurgitate all of the lies that we’ve been forced to swallow you do not love cycling and there’s plenty of hypocritical sports that do not do anything to combat doping.  Please feel free to follow anyone of those which include but is not limited to: football, baseball, basketball, tennis, soccer, formula one etc…etc…etc…

Tyler can now feel free to hand in all his prizes and hopefully he can eventually look into the eyes of riders like Blake Caldwell and Viatcheslav Ekimov, both of whom he stole titles from, and sincerely apologize.  When Tyler was a kid and developing his competitive instincts as skier he was taught to apologize to the ski racers he had beaten.  Is Tyler a self fulfilling prophecy of doom?

Bike racing is an extremely tough sport – riders train for 5+ hours a day, rain or shine, for 9 months a year, and then race at a frenetic pace across some of the harshest roads race directors can throw at them. Its no surprise that pros constantly look for ways to improve their performance. But we hold those riders up as role models, even heroes, that our kids can look up to and idolize – much like most professional sports. In this day and age professional athlete’s need to be whiter than white and Tyler Hamilton has let down his sport and his fans twice now – which is reprehensible IMHO. Tyler Hamilton has been a huge cycling star and reaped the financial and other rewards that that comes with. He has let us all down and should be punished accordingly – life-time ban?