Four years Ago Today, on A hot Sunday in Valencia I wrote a story for a cycling website .... below are some excerpts ...(I have inserted a few comments today) Maybe I didn't know then, but in many ways Tyler and Floyd were then the future of Cycling - and a very sad and dishonest future it has been.

Stage 8 - September 11: Factoría FORD - Factoría FORD (I.T.T.), 40.1 km - Tyler starts the fight club on September 11

That fight club has maybe been a life of delusion .... of self delusion and deluding others

Tyler said after the stage that he is "used to riding with pain" and one wonders whether he doesn't in fact ride better that way.

Well having spent the weekend reading Tyler's doping regime ala Fuentes and the money he spent and owed the good doctor - more on him soon; maybe the pain Tyler was feeling and stiull feels is the weight of his cconscience. "Doping" is a complicated issue, much more than good guyds and bad guys, but being honest with yourselff and the world is a good place to start to become someone who can live with themselves. Think about it Tyler.

Everyone knew that the business end of the Vuelta kicked off today and Hamilton - who stated this morning he wasn't thinking of the general classification or Madrid but the stage and New York three years ago - was the rider that started the club in which this year's La Vuelta will be fought.

"My hand has been hurting me a bit since my crash on stage 4 but as Olympic champion I was confident in myself," he said. "To not get the victory today would have been a disappointment. For me, it is also special because now I have won a stage in all three grand tours and not too many riders have done that."

New York three years ago - that is 11 Sept. 2001. Isn't it wonderful the dream of freedom threatened by evil doers from afar and that of the American Dream of you can have it all if you want it. Sometimes you think that just might mean taking shortcuts, deceiving people and plane lying for your own personal gain.Come clean Tyler and tell us what you really did to win those three grand tour stages. be honest with yourself and us and with Tugboat.

Asked if he thought he had taken enough time out of the other climbers to hang on to Madrid he replied, "To be honest I haven't seen the other times yet but my goal today was the stage. I was just focused on the stage and I haven't thought about Madrid. It was an important day for the world, it was three years ago today was 9/11 and I want to dedicate this victory to those who lost their lives in that tragedy, I think it is special that an American could win today. If I wasn't able to win I was rooting for Floyd Landis."

Somehow dedicating a lie to the victims of 9/11 doesn't seem that far away from what the world has been subjected to since 9/11. the destruction of human bodies in the pursuit of creating free markets. It is enought to make you cry. Rooting for Floyd -yeh, is he Nick's freind? what a tangled web they weave.

At that point Floyd Landis, who has donned the race leader's golden jersey again, entered the room and asked Tyler, "Why didn't you let me win?" To which Tyler replied joking, "As you know Floyd is going to be my teammate next year and he was ahead at the first split time and we had a radio, so I told him to slow down."

In the wake of his win today Hamilton said that he is still, "Just taking it one day at a time...again as I said, my training was really focused on a one hour event, the Olympic time trial, so I have to be honest with myself my training hasn't been focused on la Vuelta a España which is a three week race versus a one hour race. I am just going to take it day by day. Obviously today was the time trial which was completely flat and as you know starting tomorrow it is a completely different race, the race started today and we have a lot of mountains and a lot of tough stages ahead."

Not only was it a top three for the Americas - Hamilton, Landis and Peña but it was also a signal as to what life might be like after Lance. All three will be together next year as Phonak shapes itself to try and take over the mantle from USPS as the Real Madrid of the cycling world.

Well they tried at Phonak didn't they. A unknown company a few years ago has done real well out of the pharmacy it sponsored before they pulled the pin when it got all a little too obvious.

After shaking Tyler's damaged hand, race leader Landis told Cyclingnews that he "expected Tyler to win today - he won the Olympics. My objective was to win the leader's jersey...I would have like to have won, but I am happy that Tyler won, he will be my teammate next year and it was an outstanding performance."

Floyd and Tyler - the future of cycling in 2004. It's death in 2006?

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Nevertheless, in the next few days the fence sitting will have to stop and many riders who are here to see what might happen will have to decide whether or not they want to stay in the fight club or simply sit on the sidelines and watch the climbers take over.

It is probably a little too late for fence sitting to stop - but a little honesty and a little ethics rather than the search for a loophole might go a long way.

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