Cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's road time trial

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Men's cycling road time trial
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Cycling (road) pictogram.svg
Venue Vouliagmeni Olympic Centre
Competitors40
Winning time57:50.58
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Viatcheslav Ekimov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia
Silver medal icon.svg Bobby Julich Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Bronze medal icon.svg Michael Rogers Flag of Australia.svg  Australia
  2000
2008  

The men's time trial at the 2004 Summer Olympics (Cycling):

Medalists

Of the top riders, it soon became clear that Sydney 2000 time trial gold medal winner Russian rider Viatcheslav Ekimov was setting the time to beat. The current world time trial champion, Michael Rogers from Australia, appeared to match Ekimov's times, but faded in the final kilometres. Tyler Hamilton, from the US, had problems with his radio shortly after the start, and rode the race effectively without radio communication. Hamilton finished strongly claiming the gold medal for the US, averaging 50.062 km/h to finish the 48 km course in 57:31.74. Ekimov was awarded the silver medal, with a time of 57:50.58 nearly 19 seconds behind Hamilton, with another American, Bobby Julich, in a time of 57:58.19 inching out Michael Rogers (58:01.67) for the bronze medal.

Michael Rich (58:09.46) from Germany finished 37 seconds behind Hamilton for fifth, with Kazakhstan rider Alexander Vinokourov finishing sixth. The last person to start, the 2000 Olympics road race winner and former world time trial champion Jan Ullrich from Germany, could not match the pace and ended with a time of 59:02.04 in seventh position.

On 20 May 2011, the Wall Street Journal reported that Hamilton returned his gold medal to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency after Hamilton acknowledged to 60 Minutes that he used doping products during his career. The International Olympic Committee responded in August 2012 by stripping Hamilton of his medal. [1] [2] [3] [4]

On 5 September 2012, Random House (Bantam Books) published Hamilton's memoir The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs, coauthored with American writer Daniel Coyle. [5] It won the 2012 William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. [6] In the book, he details his career and his relationship with Lance Armstrong, for whom he was a teammate and a confidant. It also details some of the doping practices he and Armstrong were using on the USP team, such as EPO injections and blood transfusions. They parted ways when Hamilton went riding for CSC. This decision was motivated by the fact that Armstrong had become cold and vindictive toward him. Hamilton then recounts the 2 years spent riding for Bjarne Riis, his sympathy for the former rider and how Riis introduced him to Eufemiano Fuentes, a Spanish doctor who would be later investigated in the Operacion Puerto doping affair. He then recounts his years on the Phonak Team when he tested positive during the Vuelta a España to an alleged homologous blood transfusion.

Despite admitting throughout the work that he very regularly used EPO, testosterone pills and patches, and autologous blood transfusions, Hamilton staunchly opposed the sanction, since he had never used the blood of another person. It was speculated that Fuentes and his assistant had mixed the blood of another rider with his. His career in shambles, he raced for lesser teams after his suspension, tested positive for DHEA (in an OTC herbal anti-depressant) and retired. He later received a call from United States federal investigator Jeff Novitzky, who wanted to talk to him. He refused and was served a subpoena, whereupon he decided to tell everything. Some former teammates of Lance Armstrong and other witnesses appeared, until the federal government dropped the charges. The USADA took over the investigation under civil law, and Armstrong was ultimately stripped of all his titles from August 1998 onward. Armstrong was also banned from bicycle racing and triathlon competition. [7] [8] Ekimov, who had raced for many more years than Hamilton with the infamous Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel duo, was upgraded to gold.

Results

Final results [9]
RankCyclistCountryTime
Gold medal icon.svg Viatcheslav Ekimov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 57:50.58
Silver medal icon.svg Bobby Julich Flag of the United States.svg  United States 57:58.19
Bronze medal icon.svg Michael Rogers Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 58:01.67
4 Michael Rich Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 58:09.46
5 Alexander Vinokourov Flag of Kazakhstan.svg  Kazakhstan 58:58.14
6 Jan Ullrich Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 59:02.04
7 Santiago Botero Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia 59:04.76
8 Igor González de Galdeano Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 59:27.25
9 Fabian Cancellara Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 59:42.38
10 Yuriy Krivtsov Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 59:49.40
11 Christophe Moreau Flag of France.svg  France 59:50.28
12 Marc Wauters Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 59:59.63
13 Michal Hrazdíra Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 1:00:07.23
14 Víctor Hugo Peña Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia 1:00:09.89
15 Iván Gutiérrez Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 1:00:22.80
16 Rene Andrle Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 1:00:27.29
17 Eric Wohlberg Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1:00:31.49
18 Peter van Petegem Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 1:00:35.73
19 Frank Høj Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 1:00:37.49
20 Thomas Dekker Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1:00:38.05
21 László Bodrogi Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 1:00:44.31
22 Serhiy Honchar Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 1:01:00.47
23 Evgeny Vakker Flag of Kyrgyzstan (1992-2023).svg  Kyrgyzstan 1:01:21.10
24 Sérgio Paulinho Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 1:01:25.63
25 Benoît Joachim Flag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg 1:01:50.46
26 Rubens Bertogliati Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 1:02:16.56
27 Kurt Asle Arvesen Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1:02:21.28
28 Evgeni Petrov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1:02:50.32
29 Stuart Dangerfield Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:03:00.72
30 Dawid Krupa Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 1:03:07.05
31 Thor Hushovd Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1:03:10.36
32 Heath Blackgrove Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 1:03:20.11
33 Thomas Löfkvist Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1:03:43.70
34 Gorazd Štangelj Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 1:03:45:84
35 Matej Jurčo Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 1:04:22.58
36 Slawomir Kohut Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 1:06:19.29
Andrey Kashechkin Flag of Kazakhstan.svg  Kazakhstan DNF
Robert Hunter Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa DNS
Filippo Pozzato Flag of Italy (2003-2006).svg  Italy DNS
DSQ Tyler Hamilton Flag of the United States.svg  United States 57:31.74

(DNS/F = Did Not Start/Finish)


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References

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  2. CAS decides on appeal to strip Tyler Hamilton of Olympic gold, USAToday.com on Tuesday, 27 June 2006
  3. Hamilton given two-year doping ban, CNN on Tuesday, 19 April 2005.
  4. "IOC formally strips Tyler Hamilton of Athens gold". ESPN. Associated Press. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  5. "Hamilton To Release Autobiography". Cyclingnews.com. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  6. Sean Ingle (26 November 2012). "The Secret Race wins William Hill Sports Book of the Year for 2012". The Guardian . Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  7. "The UCI recognises USADA decision in Armstrong case". UCI. 22 October 2012. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
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