Tyler Hamilton

Tyler Hamilton is an American former professional road cyclist, born on 1 March 1971. He turned professional in 1995 with the US Postal Service team and was a teammate of Lance Armstrong during the Tours de France of 1999, 2000 and 2001, valued as both a very good climber and a time trialist. He remains the only American rider to have won one of the five Monuments of cycling, taking Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2003. Hamilton rode the Olympic Games of 2000 and 2004 and won the individual time trial in 2004, but his career was overshadowed by doping. He was suspended for two years after failed tests at the 2004 Vuelta a España, won the national road race title in 2008, and was banned for eight years after another failed test in 2009, which effectively ended his racing. He admitted doping in 2011 and returned his Olympic gold medal, and in 2012 the International Olympic Committee formally stripped him of it. That year he co-wrote the book The Secret Race.