Óscar Pereiro

Óscar Pereiro Sío (pronounced [ˈoskaɾ pe'rejro ˈsi.o]; born August 3, 1977) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. Pereiro was declared the winner of the 2006 Tour de France, after the original winner Floyd Landis was disqualified for failing a doping test after his stage 17 victory. Pereiro is a former member of Porta da Ravessa (2000 to 2001), Phonak Hearing Systems (2002 to 2005), Caisse d'Epargne (2006 to 2009), and the Astana–Premier Tech cycling team (2010). After retiring from cycling in 2010, Pereiro joined his local part-time football club Coruxo FC of the Segunda División B.

Óscar Pereiro
Personal information
Full nameÓscar Pereiro Sío
Born (1977-08-03) August 3, 1977
Mos, Galicia, Spain
Height1.77 m (5 ft 9 12 in)[1]
Weight67 kg (148 lb; 10 st 8 lb)[1]
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeAll-rounder
Professional teams
20002001Porta da Ravessa
20022005Phonak
20062009Caisse d'Epargne–Illes Balears
2010Astana
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
General classification (2006)
1 individual stage (2005)
Combativity award (2005)

One-day races and Classics

Classique des Alpes (2004)

Early career

Pereiro placed tenth in the 2004 Tour de France, 22 minutes 54 seconds behind original winner Lance Armstrong, who was subsequently disqualified. He was awarded the Most Aggressive Rider Award in the 2005 Tour de France after powering the winning breakaways in Stages 15, 16 and 19. 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. In January 2014, Pereiro confessed on a radio show he sold this stage to Hincapie, making the deal some kilometers before arriving to the finish line.[2]

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

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.

After hearing of Landis' 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.[3] 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."[4]

On September 20, 2007, Landis was found guilty of doping and ordered that he forfeit his 2006 Tour de France victory, making Pereiro the official winner, but not before Pereiro had his own small doping issue (see the next section for more details).[5]

Doping investigation

Pereiro in 2009

On January 18, 2007, French newspaper Le Monde reported that Pereiro had returned an "Adverse Analytical Finding" (AAF) during the 2006 Tour de France. It is alleged that a concentration of salbutamol in excess of the threshold of the allowed therapeutic use 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).[6] In the latter stage, Pereiro retook the yellow jersey from Landis.

Salbutamol is commonly used to treat asthma symptoms, 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 demanded that Pereiro verify the grounds for the use of salbutamol within a week.

On January 25, 2007, France's anti-doping agency dropped its investigation, saying Pereiro provided sufficient justification for use of the asthma medication.[7]

Pereiro's yellow jersey, Tour de France 2006.

Crash in 2008 Tour de France

On July 20 during the 15th stage of 2008 Tour de France, Pereiro crashed at the 89 kilometre mark over a guardrail just prior to a hairpin turn during the descent of the Col Agnel landing on the other side of the turn, which meant the end of the Tour for him.[8][9] Initially, he was thought to have broken his femur and arm, but later it was learned that this was not the case. He suffered a broken arm but never lost consciousness and was taken to a nearby hospital in Cuneo.[10] During this Tour, Pereiro was working for Caisse d'Epargne team captain Alejandro Valverde but when it became clear in the Pyrenees that Valverde had lost too much time, he and Valverde managed to maintain placings in the top 20 riders.

Football career

In December 2010 Pereiro announced that he signed with Segunda División B club Coruxo FC. He said that it was his childhood dream to become a professional footballer. He made two appearances for the team that season, scoring twice.[11]

Career achievements

Major results

1998
1st  Spain U23 Cyclo-Cross Champion
1999
1st  Spain U23 Cyclo-Cross Champion
2001
1st Stage 3 Grande Premio
2002
1st Stage 5 Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
2003
1st Stage 6 Tour de Suisse
2004
1st Classique des Alpes
10th Overall Tour de France
2005
1st Prologue Tour de Romandie
10th Overall Tour de France
1st Stage 16
Combativity award Overall
2006
1st Overall Tour de France
2007
1st Stage 1 (TTT) Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
2nd Overall Tour du Limousin
10th Overall Tour de France
2008
3rd Road race, National Road Championships

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Giro d'Italia 11
Tour de France 10 10 1* 10 DNF DNF
Vuelta a España 30 17 25 49 DNF

* After the disqualification of Floyd Landis

Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

References

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