Óscar Pereiro

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Óscar Pereiro
Personal information
Full name Óscar Pereiro Sio
Date of birth August 3, 1977 (age 29)
Country Flag of Spain Spain
Height 1.78 m
Weight 68 kg
Team information
Current team Caisse d'Epargne
Discipline Road
Role Rider
Rider type All-rounder
Professional team(s)
2000-2001
2002-2005
2006-		 Porta da Ravessa
Phonak
Caisse d'Epargne
Major wins
Tour de France, 1 stage
Combativity competition (2005)
Infobox last updated on:
January 23, 2007

Óscar Pereiro Sio (born August 3, 1977 in Mos, Galicia) is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer. He is best known for finishing second (as it currently stands) in the 2006 Tour de France. It is possible that 2006 Tour winner Floyd Landis could eventually be disqualified and Pereiro will be promoted to the winner's position (see below).

Pereiro currently rides for the Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears cycling team. He is a former member of the Portugal-based team Porta da Ravessa (2000 to 2001) and the Swiss-based team Phonak Hearing Systems (2002 to 2005).

Contents

[edit] Early Career

Pereiro placed tenth in the 2004 Tour de France - 22 minutes 54 seconds behind Tour winner Lance Armstrong. He was awarded the Most Aggressive Rider Award in the 2005 Tour de France after powering the winning breakaways in Stages 15, 16 and 18. He was the Stage 16 winner - just edging out Spain's Xabier Zandio, Italy's Eddy Mazzoleni and Australia's Cadel Evans. His efforts on Stage 15, the toughest stage of the Tour, were highly admired by the peloton. He finished second that day to Discovery Channel's George Hincapie after "pulling" for most of the final climb up the Pla D'Adet.

Pereiro was considered a leader on Phonak along with Landis and Santiago Botero in 2005 - his last year riding for the team.

[edit] 2006 Tour de France

Pereiro rode a Pinarello Dogma FP bike throughout the 2006 Tour de France. His breakaway Stage 13 second-place finish (just behind Germany's Jens Voigt) gained him almost 30 minutes on most of the General Classification leaders and propelled him into an unexpected yellow jersey. He traded the overall lead back and forth with Floyd Landis over the next few days before finally losing it to him for good on the second to last day of the Tour.

Although Pereiro officially stands as the second place finisher in the 2006 Tour, it is possible that he will eventually be upgraded to the winner's position. A urine sample taken from tour winner Floyd Landis immediately after his Stage 17 win has twice tested positive for banned synthetic testosterone as well as a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone nearly three times the limit allowed by World Anti-Doping Agency rules.[1]

After hearing of the positive "A" test, Pereiro stated that it was only an initial, unconfirmed result and he would not yet consider Landis guilty or himself the Tour winner. "I have too much respect for Landis to do otherwise", he said.[2] After hearing that the Landis "B" test also came back positive, Pereiro stated that he now considers himself Tour champion and the Landis scandal should not diminish his own achievement. "Right now I feel like the winner of the Tour de France", Pereiro said. "It's a victory for the whole team."[3]

[edit] Doping Investigation

On January 18, 2007, French newspaper Le Monde reported that Pereiro has also tested positive during the 2006 Tour de France. It is alleged that salbutamol was found in two urine samples, produced after stages 14 (Montélimar - Gap, in which Pereiro finished 26th) and 16 (Bourg-d'Oisans - La Toussuire, 3rd place).[4] In the latter stage, Pereiro retook the yellow jersey from Landis.

Salbutamol is commonly used to cure asthma, and is allowed to be used in cycle racing if the cyclist can provide a medical prescription for the substance. It is alleged that the International Cycling Union gave Pereiro retroactive permission to use the substance on medical grounds after the positive tests. The French anti-doping agency questions the veracity of the medical grounds. It has demanded that Pereiro verify the grounds for the use of salbutamol within a week.

On January 25, 2007, France's anti-doping agency dropped it's investigation saying Pereiro provided sufficient justification for use of the asthma medication.[5]

[edit] Tour de France finishes

(2006 results are subject to change pending final resolution of doping allegations surrounding Floyd Landis.)

  • 2006: 2nd (+00' 57") Holder of the Maillot jaune for 5 non-consecutive days. May be upgraded to first place finish after failed urine test of Tour winner Floyd Landis (pending Landis hearing).
  • 2005: 10th (+16' 04") 1st Stage 16
  • 2004: 10th (+22' 54")

[edit] Victories

2006
  • Maillot jaune, General Classification leader (After Stages 13, 14) – Tour de France
  • Maillot jaune, General Classification leader (After Stages 16 to 18) – Tour de France
2005
  • Combativity Competition – Tour de France
  • Stage 16 – Tour de France (PT) - 180.5 km
  • Prologue – Tour de Romandie (PT) - 3.4 km (ITT)
2004
  • Classique des Alpes (1.1) - 165 km
2003
2002
  • Stage 5 – Setmana Catalana (2.1) - 144 km
2001
  • Stage 3 – Grande Premio R.L.V.T. (2.5) - 166.1 km

[edit] Physical statistics

  • Height : 1.78 m
  • Weight : 68 kg

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Backup Sample on Landis Is Positive", New York Times, 2006-08-05.
  2. ^ "Pereiro cautious about Landis case", SportsIllustrated.com, 2006-07-27.
  3. ^ "I am the Tour champion - Pereiro", BBC Sport, 2006-08-05.
  4. ^ "Oscar Pereiro, deuxième du Tour de France 2006, a été contrôlé positif pendant la Grande Boucle", Le Monde, 2006-01-18.
  5. ^ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/cycling/wires/01/25/2080.ap.cyc.pereiro.doping.0334/index.html

[edit] External links

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Riders on Caisse d'Epargne

David Arroyo | Eric Berthou | Florent Brard | Vladimir Efimkin | Imanol Erviti | Marco Fertonani | José Vicente Garcia | Iván Gutiérrez | Joan Horrach | Vladimir Karpets | Pablo Lastras | David Lopez | Alberto Losado | Alexei Markov | Óscar Pereiro | Aitor Pérez | Francisco Perez | Mathieu Perget | Nicolas Portal | Sébastien Portal | Vicente Reynès | Joaquin Rodriguez | Luis León Sánchez | Alejandro Valverde | Constantino Zaballa |  Xabier Zandio
Manager
José Miguel Echavarri
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