Biography
Hamilton attended Holderness School in Holderness, New Hampshire, where he started cycling. After graduating in 1990, he attended the University of Colorado at Boulder as a ski racer and received a BA in economics in 1994 (although it has been alleged that he did not graduate). A back injury (two broken vertebrae while mountain bike training on ski jump) at the University of Colorado developmental ski team in September 1991 ended his skiing and he switched to cycling.
He turned pro in 1995 for the Montgomery Bell Cycling team which later became the U.S. Postal Service cycling team and raced for them in the 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 Tour de France. Hamilton protected Lance Armstrong in the mountains. He was on Armstrong's first three Tour de France winning Postal squads and quickly grew to stardom. Hamilton also acted as a scout in individual time trials, riding as hard as possible to provide time-split comparisons for Armstrong.
In 2001 Hamilton left U.S. Postal for Team CSC. He was made a leader under manager Bjarne Riis. Hamilton fractured a shoulder in a crash in the 2002 Giro D'Italia yet managed to finish second. Hamilton became the first American to win the Liège–Bastogne–Liège race. He won the Tour de Romandie in 2003. In the 2003 Tour de France he cracked a collarbone in the first stage, and stayed to finish the tour. That year, he rode one of the Tour's most memorable feats. He won Stage 16 with a 142 km solo breakaway, and placed fourth overall. For his stage win, Hamilton was awarded the Coeur de Lion prize (French for Heart of the Lion, the name of the cheese maker that sponsored the award), as the most daring racer of the stage.
In the 2004 Tour de France Hamilton raced for Phonak Hearing Systems. He dropped out on stage 13, after back pain mostly due to a crash on stage 6.
His former wife, Haven Hamilton and golden retriever Tugboat became recognizable at the races, appearing in photos and interviews.
The bicycle racing publication VeloNews reported that Hamilton and his wife Haven amicably separated in spring 2008 after nine years' marriage, and the couple subsequently divorced. Hamilton disclosed in an interview in April 2009 that he had been treated for depression for six years. Hamilton revealed, via Twitter, on December 31, 2011 that he married long time friend Lindsay Hamilton (Dyan), who goes by Lindsay Filomena.
Read more about this topic: Tyler Hamilton
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