Tyler Hamilton suggests Lance Armstrong still hasn’t told the whole truth in new documentary

Armstrong previously claimed he would be honest in the revealing film

(Image credit: AFP via Getty Images)

Tyler Hamilton has suggested Lance Armstrong still hasn’t told the whole truth in his latest documentary.

Armstrong had previously vowed to tell the whole truth in the two-part film investigating the life, career and cheating of the disgraced seven-time Tour de France winner.

But Hamilton, who rode alongside Armstrong on the US Postal Service team from 1998 to 2002, has said he “doesn’t think we’ve seen enough of the past from him or from a lot of individuals.”

In the three-hour long documentary, Armstrong reveals he first doped when he was 21 and that he maintains a feeling of hostility towards another former team-mate, Floyd Landis.

Appearing on the Off the Ball podcast Hamilton, who was banned for doping himself and stripped of an Olympic gold medal, said: “I’d love to see more of the truth. The whats, the whys, the how – all that. Not anything against Lance but for the future of cycling, 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 added that there are a lot of “half-truths out there.”

Hamilton won the gold medal in the time trial at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, but he was later stripped of the result after testing positive for blood doping.

He was also implicated in the Operation Puerto blood doping ring in 2006, then failed another doping test in 2009 and was given an eight-year ban, which led to his retirement.

In 2012 Hamilton then co-authored an explosive book – The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, cover-ups, and winning at all costs – which revealed details of cheating inside the professional peloton.

>>> Seven things we learnt from the new Lance Armstrong documentary

Hamilton says he still lives with the consequences of writing that book: “There are plenty of consequences for telling a half-truth, but you might be able to stay in the sport. When you tell the full truth like me, you’re out.”

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Alex Ballinger

Alex Ballinger is editor of BikeBiz magazine, the leading publication for the UK cycle industry, and is the former digital news editor for CyclingWeekly.com. After gaining experience in local newsrooms, national newspapers and in digital journalism, Alex found his calling in cycling, first as a reporter, then as news editor responsible for Cycling Weekly's online news output, and now as the editor of BikeBiz. Since pro cycling first captured his heart during the 2010 Tour de France (specifically the Contador-Schleck battle) Alex covered three Tours de France, multiple editions of the Tour of Britain, and the World Championships, while both writing and video presenting for Cycling Weekly. He also specialises in fitness writing, often throwing himself into the deep end to help readers improve their own power numbers.  Away from the desk, Alex can be found racing time trials, riding BMX and mountain bikes, or exploring off-road on his gravel bike. He’s also an avid gamer, and can usually be found buried in an eclectic selection of books.