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Tyler Hamilton: Lance should face up to what he's done

Author hopes he's helped start the process of eradicating all doping from sport...

Tyler Hamilton has said that he'd like Lance Armstrong to face up to the truth of his doping after seeing the photo Armstrong posted of himself reclining on a couch looking at his seven yellow jerseys.

Speaking at the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award in London where his book, The Secret Race, was named the winner, Hamilton told the Daily Telegraph: "He's still denying the past and that picture saddens me, I don't enjoy looking at that.

"He's most likely going through a similar process that I went through. Maybe he's reflecting on the whole situation now. If he does the same picture like that in a year's time I'd be surprised. I think he's probably spending a lot of time thinking about it and you know it's got to be tearing him up inside.

"For Lance Armstrong if he tells the truth he's going to be OK and he's going to be much better off if he tells the truth. We know the truth but everybody wants to hear it from him."

Hamilton added that he hoped his book, which contained information critical to the USADA report that stripped Armstrong of his titles, would help the process of clearing up cycling.

He said: "When I came into the top tier of professional cycling in 1997 the doping culture was in full force.

"So I don't know exactly when it started, how it started, where it went wrong but we need to figure out how it went wrong to really to set a clear path for the future because if we don't learn from our mistakes it's going to happen again I guarantee it, I guarantee it."

 

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Sadly Biggins | 12 years ago
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Slightly off topic, but did anyone in London go to Waterstones yesterday at Leadenhall Market/London Wall to have their copy of the book signed by Hamilton? I did think about it quite a lot but decided in the end not to go.

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the badger | 12 years ago
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Sounds interesting, I've ordered the book for christmas  1

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localsurfer | 12 years ago
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It is a great read, but Hamilton shows he STILL doesn't get it. There is a revealing section where he boasts of how he won fair and square as everyone was equally doped up.

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Sam1 replied to localsurfer | 12 years ago
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localsurfer wrote:

It is a great read, but Hamilton shows he STILL doesn't get it. There is a revealing section where he boasts of how he won fair and square as everyone was equally doped up.

Hmm, cant disagree. That was pretty revealing. Think some PR bods had words with him because lately his interviews have been more of 'I did a very bad thing'

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issacforce | 12 years ago
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dont buy the book to make his bank balance bigger loan it from the library its cheaper (nothing)

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AlexStriplight | 12 years ago
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I recommend the book, it's a great read. Shame he's making money off it though. Anyone who's ever been a fan of pro cycling must be aware of it's doping history and litany of cheats from the very start of the TDF. The testers have always been a step, sometimes two, behind. From what I've read I can only conclude that Lance and other pro's think that if they don't get caught 'red handed' then that counts as being 'clean'. Unfortunately sporting hero's have a habit of being all too human.

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sneakerfrfeak | 12 years ago
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You should.

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notfastenough | 12 years ago
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I forgot about the vanished twin! Can't decide whether I should read this or not...

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crazy-legs | 12 years ago
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Oh that's nice of Tyler isn't it? I bet that was at the back of his mind the whole time he was getting juiced up to the eyeballs in order to win races and make lots of money. And lie about it all with his ridiculous 'vanished twin' claim. All the while secretly thinking "I'm doing this for the good of the sport".

 39

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fiftyacorn | 12 years ago
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I no longer believe the sport will clean itself up. It just stumbles from one scandal to the next, with each new generation proclaiming how they are clean and different from the last

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localsurfer replied to fiftyacorn | 12 years ago
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fiftyacorn wrote:

I no longer believe the sport will clean itself up. It just stumbles from one scandal to the next, with each new generation proclaiming how they are clean and different from the last

This. Armstrong has ruined it for me. All those races I was on the edge of my seat over? Twenty-odd years of it? Complete rubbish. They took me for a fool.

I still enjoy pro racing, but I don't believe they are clean, any of them. Even Sky. I've been lied to too many times.

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dullard | 12 years ago
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Much like in the case of Tony Blair and other sociopaths, the truth for Lance is whatever he believes at the time. I don't think reflection is in Lance's lexicon.

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