American cyclist Tyler Hamilton competed in his first professional bicycling race on Tuesday since being accused of blood doping in the fall of 2004 during the Vuelta a Espana.

Hamilton rode in the one-day French season opener, the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, as leader of the Russian Tinkoff Credit Systems cycling team. Teammate Mikhail Ignatiev finished second; Hamilton finished out of the top 15.

Hamilton lost his final appeal of the blood doping case last year ...   more »