Hamilton on Armstrong documentary: ‘There’s still a lot left to be said’

Tyler Hamilton has cast a critical eye over the first part of ESPN’s new Lance Armstrong documentary, LANCE.

The former US Postal rider teammates and teammate of Armstrong said that there is “a lot more left to be said,” in the 30 for 30 documentary, which aired its first of two parts Sunday.

“I’d love to see more of the truth,” Hamilton told the Off the Ball podcast. “The whats, the whys, the how — all that. Not anything against Lance but just for the future of cycling, but for the younger generations of the sport. I don’t think we’ve seen enough of the past from him or from a lot of individuals.”

Hamilton felt that the first half of the documentary left plenty unsaid, and that the dark day’s of cycling’s past are still half-buried in incomplete stories and rumor.

“There are so many like friggin’ half-truths out there — like ‘I doped from here to here then stopped’ — and all that,” he said. “There’s a lot of that. Not coming forward with some of these secrets that can make a big difference. We need more of the details from all this. Not only from Lance but from a lot of these individuals.

“I don’t know what is going to happen in the future, hopefully, we don’t see anything like this ever again,” he continued. “But if we don’t find out what happened in the past, how it happened then it’s going to happen again. Just wait, start your stopwatch.”

Hamilton, now 49, owns a coaching business and describes himself as very much removed from the current pro cycling scene. He noted the contrast between himself and Armstrong, who remains present in the cycling world through his podcast and media appearances.

“When you tell a whole truth like that, there’s a lot of consequences,” Hamilton continued. “There’s plenty of consequences of telling a half-truth, but maybe you get to keep your job or stay in the sport. But when you tell the whole truth like me, you’re out. You could say I ‘spat in the soup,’ I guess.”

Along with reviewing the documentary, Hamilton spoke at length about the nitty-gritty of the doping era, his relationship with Armstrong, and the Texan’s bullying oppressive presence in the peloton.

“You had to kind of tread lightly around Lance when you were teammates with him, you know? Because when you were on his good side things were pretty good, but when you were on his bad side, it could get ugly quickly,” Hamilton said. “I certainly feared that, yeah.”

Hamilton formed a key part of Armstrong’s US Postal team from 1998 through 2002 before switching across to CSC, where he battled against the Texan through his redacted 2002 and 2003 Tours de France victories. Hamilton was banned for doping in 2004, eventually landing an eight-year ban. Like Armstrong, he documented his story in a book, “The Secret Race,” which has been hailed as one of the most detailed, forensic accounts of the EPO era.

The second part of LANCE will be shown this Sunday, May 31, and Hamilton is hopeful that the full truths will out.

“It will be interesting to see what comes in the second part. … There’s still a lot left to be said,” Hamilton said. “I’m waiting for the dark stuff, that’s for sure. Because there was some dark stuff … with him, with me, with many people.”

Want to read VeloNews editor-in-chief Fred Dreier’s take on LANCE? Check out his full review here.