Ed. Note: Thanks again to the DailyPeloton.com for this interview with Tyler!

A Conversation with Tyler Hamilton
Part 2 By Charlie Melk

To many, the name Tyler Hamilton implies many things in 2006 that it didn’t in 2004. A year and a half into his suspension for allegedly transfusing someone else’s blood, and at the end of a lengthy appeal process that ultimately ended negatively for him, he waits now, readying himself for a return to the sport he loves. But as you’ll read, he’s not just sitting around, letting the external events of this case happen to him.

For some, Tyler Hamilton has always been guilty. Conversely, others will always remain faithful believers in his innocence. Many people have already made up their minds, one way or the other, and there is seemingly little ground in the middle to waver for them. The accusations have been made, the sanction has been delivered, and the appeals have been lost—all that is left now is for him to make sense of this chapter of his life and move forward.

Personally, I find it hard to remain unaffected by the human side of his story, especially after speaking with him.

I found Tyler to be extraordinarily generous in both the time he took for this interview and the obvious effort he made to answer every question I had, completely and to the best of his ability. Through talking with him, I found myself affected by his calm, insightful, and clear responses. His openness, the details with which he supported his answers and his obvious passion for the sport of cycling all speak of a person who possesses a quiet confidence in his own innocence and a firm, implicit belief in himself.

This interview traces Tyler’s path from his earliest cycling days through his suspension, and it also addresses his hopes for the future, not only for his career but also for the sport in general. Further on that note, all of the questions in this interview are my own.

Despite the legal travails of the past year and a half and an unsolicited view of many elements of the underbelly of the sport, Tyler remains steadfastly determined to provide honest and detailed answers to anyone who asks—and yes, that means you too. If you do plan to ask, though, please do enough research first to make sure that your question is well-founded. This fact sheet is a good place to start. Many of these topics were also expanded on in this article. Within a matter of weeks, Tyler will have a forum on his website. Until then, however, all questions can be addressed to him, in a respectful manner, as befits a genuine seeker of the truth on this matter, in his guestbook.

Just as Tyler said to me at the beginning of this interview, “You can ask me anything.” - now he has said it to you, as well.
Part 1 of this interview here.

Yeah, I agree. Now back to the teams you’ve ridden for and your evolution as a rider - like you said, you took baby steps every year. After a while, you could see that with your teams, too - you could see that you were moving up in the team structure. First you were a lieutenant at Postal, then a co-leader at CSC, and then once you went to Phonak, you were the man.

Yeah, exactly.

So was that the intentional plan, or did it happen more on its own?

Yeah, well, a lot of people were super surprised when I left CSC . . .

I was one of them, too . . .

Well, it was a hard decision, don’t get me wrong. I had a great relationship with Bjarne Riis, and not only was he a great director - he coached me and he was a good friend. That was a tough decision. But I felt like I was at a point in my career where I never wanted to look back and say, “I wish I gave myself a chance.” My goal, ultimately, was to win the Tour. Y’know, I’d ridden with US Postal for 3 years when we won the Tour - I know how we did it, and that’s to ride for one rider, one objective, nothing else - a 100% team effort for one individual - for one goal.

And I didn’t have that on CSC, that’s for sure. I mean, we had a lot of different goals. I think that year we won 3 stages with 3 different riders, we had 2 riders in the top ten and 3 in the top 20, maybe - something like that - we were in all the breakaways - we had a great Tour. And if you look at it solely on marketing - on the amount of time we were on TV - then maybe we won the Tour in that category!

But I knew that Bjarne wasn’t ready to make me the 100%, sole team leader for a race like the Tour, and put every other objective on the back seat - and he later admitted that - I don’t know where, but he admitted it. And if you asked him today, he’d probably say the same thing. I mean, he never said it to me, but I knew, some time in the early ’04 season, he finally admitted it. And it was good to see, because a lot of people were so surprised.

I don’t ever want to look back on my career and say “woulda, shoulda, coulda”. And, sure, I could’ve easily stayed on CSC - it was a family to me - I probably would’ve been real happy there, but in the back of my head I would’ve always had that question. I mean, the focus likely wouldn’t have changed.

So when Phonak gave me the opportunity to really hand-pick a team built around me, not only with the riders, but the staff, 90% of my own equipment, my sponsors - that was a huge opportunity. I mean, not only to be a team leader, but also to make a lot of decisions off the bike. I mean, for me, I like that. I like to do a lot of thinking off the bike - making decisions for the team - making decisions about what’s best for the team. To me it was kind of a challenge.

I mean - well, Lance obviously, but I can’t tell you many riders who bring multiple riders to a team, multiple sponsors to a team, multiple staff members to a team. Lance for sure - maybe Jan Ullrich - but not many.

Right, that puts you on a whole different level, making those decisions.

Yeah, for sure, I think I picked 7 or 8 riders for the ’05 season. All of my sponsors, basically, came with me from CSC to Phonak, besides my bike sponsor. So it was just a huge opportunity, and if I had it to do again, I’d do it the same—absolutely.

Well, it makes a lot more sense, talking to you about it than it did just looking in from the outside.

Right, and I was pretty sure about what my decision was going to be during the Tour that year [2003], and Ivan Basso was looking to make a change from Fassa Bortolo - and I told him at that point that CSC was the team for him. He was really nervous about waiting, you know, because Bjarne couldn’t decide yet, but I think that I may have been partially responsible for that [Basso coming to CSC]. Really, I talked to him several times. I talked to his trainer at the time, Luigi Cecchini—I told him. Who knows? You know, I wanted to make sure that they [CSC] were ok. And you know what? - they’re ok (laughs). They’re ok without me.

So when you look at your time at Postal, your time at CSC - you know, whenever you switch jobs- no matter what you do - it’s always a little stressful, because everything around you changes.

Oh yeah, right.

Y’know, you miss people. You miss people that you worked with—people that you became friends with. Who have some of your favorite teammates been?

Um, I don’t know if I like the word favorite. We’ll say most influential, maybe. Obviously, a guy like Andy Hampsten - super influential in my career. And then, moving forward, onto Lance - he did a lot for my career, and I’ve always said that I wouldn’t be where I am today without him, you know? And then, moving forward to CSC, I was able to ride with Laurent Jalabert - actually, his last year of racing, which was great. I owe a lot to him. Let’s see - a guy with maybe less of a resume but I learned a lot from was actually his younger brother, Nicolas. He was just a great guy, a good friend - he’s a guy who would do anything for you - a super, super teammate. And he’s the one guy I brought with me from CSC to Phonak - just a great person - totally dedicated. So those are a few names. And, actually, Nicolas was the guy who convinced me in the ’04 Tour to actually stop.

Really?

Yup—he was kind of the last guy I talked to before I made the decision to stop. He could see the way I was feeling, the way I was riding - I was obviously in a lot of pain in my lower back, and he convinced me that there was more in my future . . . I think the last thing he told me was, “You know what?—the Tour isn’t everything.”

Right, to hear that from someone you respect . . .

Yeah, I have a lot of respect for him. And it was great to see today that he helped bring Floyd to the finish line in Nice [Floyd Landis won Paris-Nice on the day of this interview]. You know, he’s still doing his job and doing it at a high level.

Going back to that pain from the 2004 Tour, but I’m even thinking more of the 2003 Tour and the 2002 Giro—you had broken bones . . .

Yup

And you were still racing. I don’t know if it’s possible for anyone who hasn’t experienced it to imagine the amount of suffering involved in riding and winning a mountainous Tour stage with a fractured collarbone, or finishing second overall in the Giro with a broken shoulder.

I mean, one thing with my collarbone, though - like, I mean, I was still in a lot of pain - but, for one thing the bone was still together, it was a v-fracture, you know?

Right, right

If it would’ve completely broken that would’ve been difficult, it could’ve just stabbed me right through the skin. That would have been super difficult. So I was lucky in a way that it didn’t completely break. Obviously, I would’ve been in a lot more pain. But, yeah, a fracture in my shoulder in 2002, and early. I think it was Stage 5 of the Giro - Stage 1 of the ’03 Tour (laughs), I don’t know. Certainly the Giro helped me realize that I could do it in the Tour in ’03. The Giro - luckily, I didn’t know that I had a fracture until after the race was over!

Really?

The next day I was in so much pain that I went and got an x-ray, and sure enough. Y’know, I was pretty sure that I had a serious problem, because the pain didn’t really go away during the Giro.

Right.

But I really didn’t even want to know that it was broken during the race, because at that time I knew that I had good form and I knew I had a chance to win, I didn’t want anything to get in the way (laughs).

Yeah, that’s epic.

And I almost felt the same way at the Tour in ’03. I didn’t want to get it x-rayed, but I really had to. It was so early in the race.

So did the officials or doctors have any say as to whether you could continue?

Um, they don’t recommend it, but they can’t stop you. I think they thought I was crazy, but after doing the Giro I knew it was possible. It’s really just about accepting the pain and just kind of putting it - not necessarily - if you’re always resisting the pain, denying the pain - if you just accept it and know it’s there and it’s going to continue to be there, it kind of makes it a little bit easier. It’s a bit of a head-game. Really! But 14 teeth later, man, I just ground my teeth down.

And you’re still dealing with that.

Actually, I still am today, because I did a lot of damage in that Giro in ’02, and that following off season I got a lot of teeth replaced - I got caps put on my back teeth because they were all fractured and ground down. But then they made the caps the same size as the teeth, which were already ground down a bit, and so my bite’s been off for the last couple of years.

So this last year I’ve taken advantage of my time off and I’m kind of dealing with my teeth again—getting back to my normal bite from 12 years ago.

Well, you wouldn’t have gotten the chance otherwise, right?

Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I’ve taken advantage of my time at home - got my teeth taken care of. I had laser surgery on my eyes, so now I don’t need prescription glasses. Now I’m bigger and better (laughs). So, who’s that - the Bionic Man? Right?

Right, right . . .

Build him bigger, better . . .

Bigger, better, faster, stronger (laughing)

Right.

So, how about the training now?

Yeah, the training - I took a little bit of time off from training - I was expecting to be vindicated last month, didn’t happen, you know. I was training really hard. I was planning on racing at Paris-Nice, so I was training very hard, trying to get ready for that. It was going to be my first race in a year and a half. Then obviously the decision didn’t go our way, so I took a little down-time to ride when I felt like it. I did some other things - did some skiing - traveled a little bit. But now I’m back training again - focused on coming back in September. I still feel like this time off is . . . I’m trying to look at the positives. It’s given my body two full years to recover a bit, you know?

Right.

You know, the off-season is never enough. Before you know it, you’re at your December training camp, and you’re stressing about that extra 10 pounds you gained—before you know it, you’re right back at it.

Well, it seems like the season keeps getting longer and longer every year.

Absolutely, it gets longer, your off-seasons get more hectic; and maybe, physically, you’re ready to start, but mentally you’re not ready to start again. I mean, I’m hungry, I can’t wait to get back. I didn’t realize how much I loved the sport of bike racing. I knew I loved it, but I miss it so much. I was really surprised - really, until you take a step back you don’t realize it, because you’re just so in the middle of things, you don’t have a chance to really look at that from the outside. I miss competition, I miss the competing - I miss the whole atmosphere. So I can’t wait to come back. I’m so excited, I’m going to come back stronger - that’s for sure.

One more thing, I’m 35 - just turned 35 a couple of weeks ago - most people who ride, 35, that’s pretty much the end of your career, but now I feel like, with this break - I’m not trying to spin another positive angle on this whole thing; but it certainly lengthened my career. I mean, I’m not tired. I’m hungry to race a lot longer. You can’t really put a number of years on it, but I don’t feel 35 and washed up, that’s for sure.

That’s what I was wondering.

Yeah, not at all. If you said today, you’ve got to race 5 more years, I’d say, “Bring it on.”

So, with your training, do you still shoot for certain numbers, or aren’t you doing that at this point yet?

Um, I will, but another thing I didn’t mention is that all ’05 I kept getting ready my supposed re-start to cycling, because this whole last year and a half, it’s been just small, little . . . by September ’04 it was like, “Ok, by November this’ll be cleared up.” And then, “Ok, it’s gonna be January” and then “Ok, it’s gonna be February”. “Now it’s gonna be April”. But in a strange way it was good because it kind of kept me on top of my game—maybe not 100% on top, but it kept me training hard. I kept ramping it up, thinking, “Ok, I’m going to start my season here.” There were probably 6 separate times that I was planning on starting my racing season again. So, in a way it kind of kept me in shape and kept me on top of it. I did some motor pacing - did a lot of testing. So, again, I was ready at the beginning of February.

After my hearing in January with CAS, I went straight over to Europe and started training. And then I came back just before the decision. I mean, I left all my stuff over there - that’s how confident I was that I was going to be vindicated. I left my suitcases, my bike - I went to train in Italy and I left my car in Italy, and I live in Spain (we both laugh). I mean, it’s funny, but, well, it is funny. That’s how confident I was. I mean all of my crap is in Tuscany right now! (more laughter) - my bike, my car, and two suitcases! - because I planned on coming back two weeks later. But seriously, I wasn’t planning on not going back real quickly.

But, again, I was relatively fit at the beginning of February - fit enough to start the season, that’s for sure. Fit enough to compete in a race like Paris-Nice. Certainly not fit enough to win, but fit enough to get back in the ball game.

So I took a little time off and now I’m just starting up again. You know I ride every day, 4-6 hours a day, maybe 3-6 hours a day - today was a little less. So, yeah, I’ll start ramping it up and do some motor-pacing this spring. You have to work hard. Missing out on racing is really missing out on the top-end of training. Racing makes you stronger. You can’t train that much harder.

That’s why I asked, because it’s got to be hard to try to train the racing into your legs.

Yeah, yeah - so a lot of motor pacing - a lot of digging deeper into the pain.

But you’re used to that.

Yeah, but it also takes motivation. If you’re not motivated, you can’t do it - absolutely. You need a lot of motivation to do that. I mean, sure, you can ride you’re bike every day, that’s easy; but to go out and make yourself suffer, and then suffer some more . . . but, no, I’ll be ready in September.

So do you have a team yet?

Um, I’m talking to teams. I can’t really say which ones yet; but there’s certainly interest - that’s nice to know. And a lot of the people I talk to don’t believe I’m at home for the right reasons. That’s good to hear as well.

Well, it shows that you haven’t wasted all of this effort and all of this money . . .

Well, it’s frustrating that I’m at home, it’s really frustrating. I didn’t blood dope - I’ll say that until the day I die - that’s not going to change. I know the truth - obviously the panel members, the jury members, at the CAS hearing didn’t see that. It’s frustrating. I wish I could talk to them. I was so, so confident, but it just didn’t work out.

Well what would you say to people - fans - around the world, those who want to believe in you.

Sure, sure - I understand. What they probably read in a 500 word article in a newspaper isn’t very good, you know?

Right, right.

A lot of stuff has unfortunately been regurgitated from the first few days of this whole catastrophe. And a lot of the stuff out there is not 100% correct. And a lot of the facts just aren’t reported at all, as you probably saw in the article in the Daily Peloton.

But, you know, anybody who has any questions, well first they should read all the facts—they should do some research - you have to search for it a little bit - I mean, my website (http://www.tylerhamilton.com/) has a lot of stuff - obviously, you guys have printed some stuff. You’re not going to find it on most websites, I guess you could say.

But if they have any questions, I’d be more than happy—we’re going to make a forum for people to write in questions on my website. It’s not up yet, but it will be up. At the moment they can write their questions on my Guestbook (http://www.tylerhamilton.com/guestbook94.html), and we’ll try to address them all. But, eventually, there will be a forum in the next couple weeks. I can answer any of them. I’m not afraid of any questions. That’s the way I’ve been from day one. I have nothing to hide.

So what have you learned in the last year and a half about your character, your friends, your family? Tough times have a way of teaching a person a lot about who they are.

Yeah, well, this has been a great . . . I’ve learned a whole lot through this process. As crazy as it sounds, I have a lot to be thankful for - just because I’ve had so many friends and family there for me. It makes me realize that I have so much beyond cycling. Cycling, for me - sure, it’s my career, but it’s only a small part of my life, and it’s certainly not the most important part of my life. And it’s given me a lot of clarity too - that’s been probably the biggest thing - just really who is important to me and how important they are. Before, maybe, I was just so distracted because I had so many things going on. Just, my life was crazy, so busy, so hectic; but now I think my life is a little bit more simple, and it will remain that way after I start racing again. Because I know what the important things are in my life. Yeah, it’s allowed me to have a lot more clarity. I don’t know if that’s too vague, but . . .

No, no no . . . I think that’s just about the best answer you could give. You’ve got to be so focused when you’re racing. You’ve got to be so focused on you . . .

Right

. . . and looking forward all the time. There’s not enough time to reflect, to look back.

No, there’s not enough time to reflect. There’s not enough time to say, “Ok, here, let’s take a step back, what’s kind of important, what’s sort of important, what’s really important”, you know?

Right

And now I know. Before, maybe, I couldn’t have figured it out, but now that’s an easy question to answer.

Yeah, so like you said before—there are some good things that came out of this.

Oh, absolutely, absolutely, you know, I’m going to come out of this so much stronger. That’s for sure, to go through something like this - I mean, I already feel stronger, and I’ve always felt even keeled, but I think I’m even more even keeled than I was before. But it’s also taught me, I mean, every time I heard something before this, I tended to believe it. Now I think twice about a lot of stuff - just in every day life! I mean, I’ll hear something on the news - it’s funny how on the news you hear one thing and then in Spain you hear something else. Know what I mean? Talking about the war, or something else like that.

Oh yeah, I’ve noticed that for sure. Even in the cycling press . . .

Yeah, exactly.

I mean, somebody says something in French and then it gets translated one way on an Italian site, and a Spanish site translates it another way . . .

Oh yeah, yeah; that’s terrible the way they do that.

Yeah, I mean, the translations are totally off from one another . . .

Yeah, or they just make their own “guestimations” about what they were thinking or trying to say. And a lot of these riders I know personally. Some are good friends and some I just know - and I know what they’re writing is incorrect, or a big stretch of the truth.

Yeah, well it seems like they have these words to work with, and there is some leeway there to spin the translation one way or the other. It’s really common, you can see it happening all the time.

Yeah, it’s pretty wild.

Ok—anything else—any final thoughts that you have?

Well, again—I’m not afraid to answer any questions. If anybody has any questions for me, they’re welcome to ask. They can come to my website and I’ll try my best to answer them all. I want people to know this story. Eventually, I will write a book about this, that’s the plan - not to sell books or make any money - it has nothing to do with that - just because it’s a crazy story, and there’s a lot out there, there’s a lot out there that people don’t know about.

There’re a lot of people who haven’t done the correct things here, and I want people to know that. Obviously, up until now, I’m about the only one who has suffered the consequences, but there’re a lot of facts out there that people don’t even know about.

There’re some organizations associated with cycling that need to change a little bit, let’s say it that way (laughs). And I want to help. I want to put what’s happened in the past behind me, and, for me, it’s really about preserving the sport - allowing it to grow. It’s such a beautiful sport, and it’s just a small little speck on the map here in the US. I can just imagine some day, if it’s something kids wanted to take up, like football, baseball, basketball - I think it’s the kind of sport where - it’s taken off in Europe. Obviously, there’s a lot more history there, but we’re heading in the right direction.

Yeah, when you look at the Tour of California and the crowds they had there. It’s been building for a while. The base seems a lot broader now than it used to be.

Yeah, definitely. we just have to; I mean cycling’s taken a big hit over the years. Hopefully, that won’t continue. There’s been a lot of negativity - sometimes for the right reasons and sometimes for the wrong reasons - and I think it’s going to definitely have to come down to the riders if we’re going to make a change.

In the future, the riders are going to have to take more of a stand - I mean, there’s a lot of stuff that the riders aren’t happy with that, maybe, they’re too afraid to take a stand, and you have to take a stand - really, because they’re the sport. So I’ll try to help out with that and lead the charge, so to speak. Not for me, because, really, I’m certainly in the last part of my career. I was, for example, training with a guy over in Italy - Thomas Dekker - he’s actually leading Tirreno-Adriatico right now [and he ended up winning, ed.].

Yeah, I saw that. He’s a special rider.

Yeah, he’s 21 years old, huge talent, he’s one of the people that will make up the future of the sport - he’s a potential, multi-Tour de France winner. It’s really going to take the riders stepping up for the future of the sport, and Thomas Dekker is the future of the sport. I was training with him over in Tuscany in January. For me, the riders need to take a stand, because if they don’t, some of these organizations will just keep taking advantage, and guys like Thomas Dekker will suffer.

Right—their position will never improve.

Exactly, but I’m not just saying this for the reasons you’re probably thinking about - for example, anti-doping. Obviously, that’s one of the problems, but just riders having a say in the way that races are held - the way finishes are set up - just more of a say in the sport. I’m not trying to bash the Pro Tour, but I wish the riders had more of a say in the way that the Pro Tour was built.

I mean, if the sport’s going to grow the way it should grow - personally, I think it’s going to grow regardless; but if it’s going to grow the way it should, then the riders should have a say, because we’re an important part of the equation - not the only part obviously, but an important part. There’s one variable just missing - especially now, looking in from the outside; I’ve had some time to look more closely, and there’re so many decisions being made without the riders having, really, any voice.

Yeah, right - you’re not cannon fodder, right?

Well, I’m not pointing to any one particular organization. I’m just kind of generalizing here. I’ve seen a lot more of the inner circle here, and I’ve seen a lot more of the problems in the last year and a half. Things could change, you know? - things could be better. That’s one thing I could help bring to the sport, that’s for sure. The sport’s done a lot for me, that’s for sure, and I want to give back.

My plans aren’t just to leave the sport when my career is over. I want to make sure that the sport continues to grow, especially here in the US. I mean, I’ve seen where it’s been, where it is now, and where it could go - it’s exciting. You just have to have the right organization in charge. I mean, there aren’t enough checks and balances. That’s not pointing at one particular organization. The riders should have a say. People from the outside world without personal objectives should be asked for feedback, you know? There aren’t enough checks and balances.

We wouldn’t have the same perspective that you do as a rider, but anyone who follows the sport can see it; it’s there. It’s obvious.

Yeah, I mean the anti-doping lab that said I was positive - they helped develop the test, they ran the test, and then they received all of the financial benefit from the test.

Yeah - that’s not right. Now they have a vested interest in making the test successful.

Right, and that would never happen in the US. I mean, fine if they helped develop the test, but they could never run the test if there’s a financial incentive there. But, on the flip side, I can’t wait to get back to racing. I mean, cycling is a beautiful sport. I wish people focused more on that. Unfortunately, these days, there’s a lot of negativity in the sport of cycling - in the press, and especially in the general press. But it’s a beautiful sport - a beautiful sport, and I can’t wait to come back to it.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to the DP, and good luck, Tyler.