Tyler Hamilton is an American former professional cyclist, cycling coach and co-author with Daniel Coyle of The Secret Race. His retained road record includes a solo Tour de France stage win in 2003, but his career cannot be separated from doping. A blood-transfusion positive at the 2004 Vuelta led to a two-year suspension, and a second violation in 2009 brought an eight-year suspension. After publicly admitting doping, Hamilton returned the 2004 Olympic time-trial gold medal and asked the IOC to remove his name from the official record. His sworn evidence helped document the US Postal system, while Roadman's interviews preserve his first-person accounts of the era, confession, forgiveness and the move from feel-based training to power-meter coaching.
Official anti-doping and Olympic records are separated from Hamilton's own account and Roadman interview observations.
Identity, career and credential facts are checked against the records below. Podcast observations remain attributed to Tyler Hamilton.
01. USADA — US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team investigation
Hosts Hamilton's sworn affidavit, the reasoned decision and his correspondence with the IOC about returning the medal.
02. USADA — 2004 blood-doping case upheld by CAS
Records the homologous blood-transfusion finding, two-year suspension and forfeiture of results from 11 September 2004.
03. USADA — 2009 second anti-doping violation
Records the finding for testosterone or its precursors, eight-year suspension and disqualification of results from 9 February 2009.
04. Olympedia — Tyler Hamilton Olympic record
Lists Hamilton as disqualified from the 2004 road race and time trial and documents the medal return and formal removal.
05. Tyler Hamilton Training — about
Hamilton's coaching organisation records his 1995 professional start, Grand Tour history, 2009 founding of the business and current biography.
Publisher record for the Hamilton and Daniel Coyle memoir and its William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.
Reviewed by Anthony Walsh, against USADA, IOC correspondence, Olympedia, Tyler Hamilton Training and Penguin records · Last reviewed
Tyler Hamilton is an American former professional cyclist, cycling coach and co-author with Daniel Coyle of The Secret Race. He raced professionally from 1995, won a Tour de France stage in 2003 and later became a central witness to doping inside the US Postal team.
No. Hamilton voluntarily returned the medal after admitting doping during his career. In June 2012 he asked IOC president Jacques Rogge to withdraw his name from the official record; the current Olympic record lists him as disqualified from the Athens time trial.
CAS upheld a two-year suspension after Hamilton tested positive for a homologous blood transfusion at the 2004 Vuelta a España. In 2009 he accepted an eight-year suspension for a second violation after a test found testosterone or its precursors.
The Secret Race is Hamilton's 2012 memoir, co-written with Daniel Coyle, about professional cycling and doping during the Armstrong era. Its publisher records it as the winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.
Roadman has four Hamilton appearances covering the US Postal doping system, confession and forgiveness, cycling coaching, power-meter training and the difference between data and listening to the body.
Every appearance by Tyler Hamilton on The Roadman Cycling Podcast — 4 episodes in total.
Roadman blog articles that reference Tyler Hamilton’s work.
“As soon as I took that first red testosterone pill, it bothered me. I had committee meetings at night, staring at the ceiling between two and three in the morning, thinking about the consequences and how this huge secret could stay hidden. I was petrified of it.”
“He said it wasn't doping; it was for your health. I remember taking it because I didn't want to rock the boat. You take it, and then you think about the consequences later.”
“He was super-focused and knew what he wanted. I thought I trained hard until I started training with him a lot in 2000. That's when I realised I hadn't been training hard enough in the years before.”
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