The blood sport of pro cycling
By Jim Verhulst
Published December 5, 2004
Tyler Hamilton, the nicest guy in pro bicycling, is up to his carotid artery in a blood feud.
At stake is his career, his standing as an upright person and perhaps the future of tests for drugs and doping at the highest level of world sports.
Last week, Hamilton announced he had lost his job. His team fired him in hopes of keeping its license to race.
If pro cycling has a Boy Scout, until this season it would have been Hamilton, the yin to Lance Armstrong's yang. Of all Americans only Armstrong is better on a bike. But if Armstrong personifies the brash spirit of Don't Mess with Texas, Hamilton is the quiet If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It understated New England man.
Both men have strongly opposed any form of doping and have vehemently denied doing so themselves. Then came the startling news that Hamilton's blood tests looked bad not only from the Olympics, where he won a gold medal, but from the Tour of Spain, one of cycling's biggest races.
The test looked for evidence of someone else's blood in Hamilton's system. In the ever-evolving world of cheats versus those who catch them, this new test, introduced secretly this summer, is the latest gambit.
Hamilton is the first one caught by it. His future may come down to the arcane world of the lab, where scientists mix fluorescent dyes and blood proteins and antibodies and then shine a specially tuned laser beam on them for evidence of cheating. If some blood cells glow and others don't, more than the athlete's own blood is coursing through his system.
The people who support the test say if done correctly, it's foolproof; others say it's not nearly that simple. Their basic questions: Was it done right? Were enough blood cells used in the sample? Are you sure it detects only other people's blood, not other substances? Has the test been used enough to make sure it works?
"It is unfair to work through the kinks on new and unproven tests with athletes who have trained a lifetime and whose whole livelihood can be eliminated with an inaccurate test," Hamilton said.
"I naively thought that if I stated whole-heartedly that I have never and would never engage in blood doping or any form of cheating - and waited for the process to exonerate me, I would be fine."
Top athletes in many sports have been accused of doping for decades, whether it is to build stronger muscles or more endurance or more tolerance to the pain that comes with competition.
But in cycling the problem has been so bad that the Tour de France was nearly canceled a few years ago because so many riders got caught. Ironically, cycling now has some of the strictest controls. For a comparison, look at last week's revelations about baseball sluggers Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants and Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees.
A cyclist is like a power factory. Food and air go in, forward progress of the bicycle comes out. A cyclist's power is measured in watts just like a lightbulb. Mere mortals are dim bulbs, but some riders such as Hamilton can light up a room. To produce that wattage requires blood that can carry oxygen to the muscles. Hamilton won the Olympics by riding more than 31 mph for nearly 30 miles. Normal people cannot make a bicycle go that fast, let alone for that long.
To boost their output some cyclists used doping agents that increased the body's production of red blood cells. It was against the rules, and it was dangerous. The blood got thicker, and hearts had difficulty pushing mud-like blood through the bloodstream at rest. Worse, because cyclists' hearts are so large and fit, they beat less often than a normal person's. There were rumors of trainers waking their cyclists in the middle of the night so they wouldn't die in their sleep.
But new tests got much better at catching these cheats. So some athletes may have started injecting blood to enrich their supplies of red blood cells. A test to detect this was first used this summer.
The test relies on a variation of blood type. In general, humans have one of four types of blood - A, B, AB or O. The scientist who made this discovery more than a century ago won the Nobel for his efforts. Each blood type produces antigens - proteins on the blood cell's surface - that give it an identity, and antibodies against certain antigens in other blood types. That is why not everyone can give blood to everyone else.
The new test looks for this but in a more sophisticated way. Within each blood type are many variations, which don't matter for normal transfusions, but leave a trail that the test can detect, its backers say.
Hamilton's credibility will ultimately depend on the credibility of the test and of the people who administered it.
"I know we are living in an age where we unfortunately hear about athletes who cheat and I have to admit that, prior to this, when I saw something on the news regarding doping or some kind of cheating, it seemed very black and white," Hamilton said.
"I have now learned that drug testing is very complicated, and mistakes can be made. I have always admitted when I have made tactical mistakes in races, and I hope that when this case is over, the testers and the agencies involved will admit to their mistakes as well."
The doping police say the test does work and that Hamilton got caught, pure and simple.
The trouble many people are having with the news is that it just doesn't seem to fit. In a rarity in pro cycling, Hamilton is liked and respected by everyone.
A former teammate of Armstrong, he left to lead his own squad a few years ago. He had an epic Tour de France last year when he continued despite breaking his collarbone, even winning one day of the race. Many people remember that. What they may not know is this: When Armstrong clipped a spectator's yellow bag on a mountain climb and crashed hard, it was Hamilton who raced ahead to make sure everyone slowed down to wait for Armstrong to get back on the bike.
They also may not know that Hamilton rides with pain so routinely that his dentist has capped his teeth because Hamilton ground them down.
This year, when Hamilton switched to a team sponsored by Phonak, a Swiss maker of hearing aids, some expected him to challenge Armstrong for the Tour itself. That didn't happen because Hamilton crashed again and hurt his back. But he endeared himself to his fans by writing with quiet emotion on his Web site about the death during the Tour of his dog, Tugboat.
The next month when Hamilton won a gold medal at the Olympics, he had taped Tugboat's dog tag inside his helmet.
Then came the thunderbolt of this drug test from the Olympics. Pro cyclists are accustomed to giving samples - usually urine - anywhere, anytime for drug testing. For any of the tests, officials take the sample and split it in two. They test the first one, and then repeat the test on the second if the first looks positive. Only if an athlete fails both has he failed the test.
Hamilton's blood failed the first Olympic test, but the second one was inconclusive because technicians froze the blood instead of refrigerating it, which rendered it unusable. Hamilton kept his gold. But does he keep his reputation?
"I still believe he's innocent," Andy Rihs, boss of the team that just fired Hamilton, told reporters.
On Hamilton's own Web site, a lively chat room debate began. It ranges from Europeans to North Americans, from young children saying they believe in Hamilton no matter what to a few who say he has been caught red-blooded to scientists and doctors who have actually read the scientific papers on which the test is based and raise questions of their own.
Hamilton is awaiting punishment from pro cycling for failing the Tour of Spain test. He hopes to make his case in court early next year. He says he has already lost endorsement deals but more important is worried about his reputation. "I am more committed than ever to getting to the bottom of all this," he said last week.
His team had others who failed doping tests. Concerned about that, the group that polices pro cycling refused to invite the Phonak team to the big races next year, including the Tour de France. It would be as if the Red Sox or another top team were told they could not play in the major leagues.
In hopes of changing the rulemakers' minds, Phonak suspended riders with questionable tests at the same time putting together a panel of scientists to look at the test methodology. Angered that the team is questioning the blood test, the cycling officials did not change their minds. So firing Hamilton didn't help Phonak's cause.
Hamilton and his wife got two new puppies last month, about the only good news he's had lately. For now, even if Hamilton could get a cycling job, he might face a two-year suspension from the sport, which at his age - he's 33, a few months older than Armstrong - would likely end his shot at the Tour de France.
Right now, it's the placid New Englander's blood, doped or not, that is boiling.