Tyler out of a job, Phonak out of ProTour

VeloNews | Phonak fires Hamilton, but still out of ProTour

According to an AFP story this morning, Phonak fired Tyler Hamilton last week, in an attempt to gain a spot in next year's ProTour.

UCI officials told the French wire service AFP that Phonak chief Andy Rihs informed them of the decision to fire Hamilton as he unsuccessfully appealed last week to his team included in the 2005 Pro Tour championship.

Cycling's international governing body, the UCI, announced its final list of 19 teams for the ProTour, and removed Phonak, AG2R, and Mr.Bookmaker.com from its preliminary list.

UCI offered no reason for the exclusions, but in their original list, they cited Phonak's inability to organize the team to combat doping, a reference to the EPO suspension of Oscar Camenzind and blood doping positives for Hamilton and for Santiago Perez.

Update: TylerHamilton.com confirms that Tyler is no longer with Phonak.

Specifically, it would be impossible for Phonak to be accepted into the UCI Pro Tour with one of its riders facing charges of using prohibited performance enhancing methods.

We had hoped my facing the judicial process alone, apart from the team would pave the way for Phonak being included in the Pro Tour.

Hamilton still maintains his innocence: "I am more committed than ever to getting to the bottom of all this."

Phonak has said that the team might close down if if can't race in the new tour. The team still can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The full list:

• Bouygues Telecom


• Cofidis


• Crédit Agricole


• CSC


• Discovery Channel


• Davitamon-Lotto


• Domina Vacanze


• Euskaltel-Euskadi


• Fassa Bortolo


• FDJeux.com


• Gerolsteiner


• Illes Balears


• Lampre-Caffita


• Liberty Seguros


• Liquigas


• Quick Step


• Rabobank


• Saunier Duval-Prodir


• T-Mobile

Also:

Union Cycliste Internationale | 19 UCI ProTour Team Licenses for 2005