Tyler Hamilton, depressed, desperate and retired

Tyler Hamilton has achieved far more in cycling than most of us, and at 38 he can feel proud of what he has done athletically. Many will say he underachieved, and that may be true... He has also incurred the wrath of officialdom and his peers, firstly for succumbing to blood doping, and now for what seems a fairly innocuous and desperate attempt to restore his mental health at a time of personal pain. Whilst we all go through pain and loss in our lives, not all of us take medication to deal with it, nor do all of us need it. We can't see inside Tyler's head and feel his pain, or know why he weakened and took a product that he knew would in all likelihood end his cycling career. But he did it, and he accepts his fate. Having denied the blood doping, he now is open about the DHEA. It's almost trivial, but in some way it's fitting that by his own hand he moves on.

His latest offence and some background:
"Hamilton claims he took the suggested dosage for two days prior to the out-of-competition urine test. USADA's legal limit of DHEA found in the urine is 100ng/mL. Hamilton's urine sample was tested at UCLA where lab technicians found 130 ng/mL of DHEA in his urine sample. Dr. Paul Scott, founder of Scott Analytics, reviewed the testing procedure for the B sample...

"Dr. Charles Welch, at Mass General hospital in Boston diagnosed Hamilton with clinical depression in 2003. He was prescribed Celexa as an anti-depressant for the next six years. According to Hamilton, he took amounts double the prescribed dosage for two weeks in January when his mental health declined further after his mother was diagnosed with cancer."

Tyler doesn't need further pain with this result, he needs some distance from pro cycling and continued support from family and friends. I hope he gets exactly that.

Leukemans and DHEA?

Oh Bjorn! First he denied it, claiming he has a naturally high ratio and has explained it all before. Then he came up with the 'sex the night before' theory (admittedly better than the Landis-and-alcohol theory). Now we have a new excuse - I trusted the doctor. Sounds like an old one, but a good one. It all revolves around DHEA - favourite of naturopaths world-wide. Feeling off colour? Try this!

Read the CN story: Björn Leukemans' positive test for testosterone was due to a product mistakenly prescribed by a team Predictor-Lotto doctor, according to the Belgian newspaper De Morgen, which further reported that the team has fired the doctor. It was, however, unclear as to why the rider was given the product in the first place. The newspaper claimed that the doctor, whose name is not given, gave Leukemans the product Prasteron, which contains the steroid DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone). DHEA is similar to testosterone and is on the forbidden list.