I don't know what to think when I read this: http://www.tylerhamilton.com/.
That is I don't know what to think about Tyler Hamilton after reading this:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/jun06/jun26news2
Tyler Hamilton revisited
El Pais turned its attention away from Spanish cyclists in its first big
article on Monday, "The transfusions and the dollars of Tyler Hamilton". In
September 2004, Hamilton tested positive for a homologous blood transfusion
after winning the time trial at the Vuelta a España. He also returned a
positive A sample for a homologous transfusion after winning the Olympic
games time trial a month previously in August. His B sample was
inadvertently frozen, and no result could be determined from it. Although he
is still in possession of his Olympic gold medal, he was stripped of his
Vuelta stage win and suspended until September 22, 2006, despite appealing
to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
According to El Pais, the documents seized by the Spanish civil guard during
Operacion Puerto show that Hamilton was not as innocent as he claimed. It's
alleged that he not only received blood transfusions, but also a full doping
program involving EPO, anabolics, growth hormone and IGF-1.
The paper claims that among the files of Dr Eufemiano Fuentes and Jose
Merino Batres, are some details of Hamilton's financial dealings in 2002 and
2003, including a copy of a fax sent to his wife Haven to a hotel in Gerona,
where he lived. On the fax, it's shown that he had paid ?31,200 with ?11,840
still owing: ?35,000 was for the medical program, and ?8,040 was for the
medication.
The doctors' files allegedly consisted of two pages. In the first, a
calendar of the racing season is laid out from November to October, with the
races that the rider wanted to do well in being marked along with the
medication that he should take. The markings were in the so-called "Sanskrit
of Eufemiano", a notation system of substances, doses, and procedures.
Before the 2003 season, Dr Fuentes indicated that Hamilton should start
taking EPO from December 21, with 2000 units daily, up until Christmas Eve,
and then on alternate days until January 9. On the 14th of January, before
his first training camp with CSC, he was instructed to withdraw blood. On
January 24, he was to start with anabolics. In March, after racing had
started, he was to take HMG - a hormone used by menopausal women - to mask
the anabolics, as well as taking growth hormone and insulin.
The second page of the file allegedly showed that he won
Liège-Bastogne-Liège six days after a double transfusion of blood, won the
Tour de Romandie shortly afterwards, and prepared for the Tour by not racing
in May and taking anabolics and EPO. He then raced only the Dauphiné Libéré
in June - completely anonymously, and didn't even start the final stage. At
the time, he claimed to be suffering from stomach problems all week, but El
Pais alleged that according to Dr Fuentes files, it was during another
period of blood extraction. In the final lead up to the Tour, he was to take
more growth hormone and re-infuse the blood, as well as doing so on the
first rest day of the race.