In a disheartening announcement yesterday, the United States Anti-Doping Agency suspended professional cyclist Tyler Hamilton from competition for 2 years for blood doping. Tyler Hamilton has always appeared squeaky-clean with honor and integrity and I have to say that I was shocked to find out that he was guilty. As I read more about the case on Tyler's website I knew I was reading a one-sided argument against the guilty verdict but I felt that there were some compelling points. Then I read the report (starting on pg 14) written by the dissenting voter on the 3-person panel and I'll be darned if there don't seem to be some gaping holes in the argument against Hamilton.
Needless to say, I'm bummed. I'm bummed for Tyler but also for the witch-hunt attitude that seems to be pervading the sport of cycling. I'm not saying that professional cycling hasn't had some serious doping problems, but some of the latest efforts to curb the problem are causing more problems on their own.
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