Phonak fires Hamilton, but still out of ProTour

Phonak fires Hamilton, but still out of ProTour

So Tyler Hamilton, amidst the doping scandal I once believed he wasn’t guilty of in the first place is the reason that Phonak will not be included in the Pro Tour. I actually believed Tyler’s claims of innocence, right up until the last minute. But when two other teammates tested positive for the same type of transfusion Tyler was accused of having (based on tests at Athens and La Vuelta de Espana) I’m not so sure.

It’s not easy watching a hero hit the pavement, but if Tyler is guilty here, he did it to himself. His team fired him, and now will not be sanctioned by the Tour. Next year, one of cycling’s premiere teams from the past few years will not ride at all, and riders like Tyler (who knows what will happen to him) and Floyd Landis (A Lance Armstrong find, training partner, and recent addition to the Phonak team) will be off for the year.

It’s ugly if you’re a Tyler Hamilton fan right now. It’s ugly if you’re Tyler Hamilton. It’s even uglier if you’re Phonak, who will now have to stay on the sidelines for an entire year (at the least) until the new teams are announced at the end of 2005 for the Pro Tour. Forget about the Athens scandal, and how there is a huge call for the IOC to revoke Hamilton’s gold from the time trial, in which he smoked his opponents.

All this for a couple of extra seconds.

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  • http://pam pam

    How sad. All those hours and miles just down the drain. As someone that is not familiar with his career, did he have the capability of doing it drug free?

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    Well, let’s put it this way… He was so talented that riding on Lance Armstrong’s team didn’t really work for him becasue he was basically destined to play second fiddle to Armstrong for as long as he was on the team.

    Phonak hired him with the intention of winning the Tour de France, and Hamilton absolutely had the potential to do it without the doping.

    That’s probably the most tragic part of the whole thing. He didn’t really need to do what he supposedly did. Now he’s done. His team is done. And if some of the higher ups have his way he’ll be stripped of his gold from Athens and face a permanent ban from the sport altogether.

  • http://turningwheels.blogspot.com nathalie

    seems like a guy who can place 4th in the TDF with a broken collar bone (that he got in, what, the 3rd stage?) could do it drug free. shame.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    The man is amazing, and he really hurt himself here. No previous accomplishments will ever matter now, and he’ll have an asterisk by his name forever.

  • http://pam pam

    What a waste if he was that good:cry:

  • pam

    How sad. All those hours and miles just down the drain. As someone that is not familiar with his career, did he have the capability of doing it drug free?

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    Well, let’s put it this way… He was so talented that riding on Lance Armstrong’s team didn’t really work for him becasue he was basically destined to play second fiddle to Armstrong for as long as he was on the team.

    Phonak hired him with the intention of winning the Tour de France, and Hamilton absolutely had the potential to do it without the doping.

    That’s probably the most tragic part of the whole thing. He didn’t really need to do what he supposedly did. Now he’s done. His team is done. And if some of the higher ups have his way he’ll be stripped of his gold from Athens and face a permanent ban from the sport altogether.

  • http://turningwheels.blogspot.com/ nathalie

    seems like a guy who can place 4th in the TDF with a broken collar bone (that he got in, what, the 3rd stage?) could do it drug free. shame.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    The man is amazing, and he really hurt himself here. No previous accomplishments will ever matter now, and he’ll have an asterisk by his name forever.

  • pam

    What a waste if he was that good:cry: