- Óscar Pereiro
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This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Pereiro and the second or maternal family name is Sío.
Óscar Pereiro Personal information Full name Óscar Pereiro Sío Born August 3, 1977
Mos, Galicia, SpainHeight 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) Weight 68 kg (150 lb; 10.7 st) Team information Current team Retired Discipline Road Role Rider Rider type All-rounder Professional team(s) 2000–2001
2002–2005
2006–2009
2010Porta da Ravessa
Phonak
Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
AstanaMajor wins Tour de France
Overall classification (2006)
Combativity award (2005)
- 1 Stage
Infobox last updated on
July 27, 2009Óscar Pereiro Sío (born August 3, 1977) is a former Spanish professional road bicycle racer best known for winning the 2006 Tour de France after the original winner, Floyd Landis, was disqualified for failing a series of doping tests. In the summer of 2010 Pereiro announced he would quit professional cycling. 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 cycling team (2010). After retiring from cycling in 2010, Pereiro joined his local part-time football club Coruxo FC of the Segunda División B.
Contents
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.
2006 Tour de France
Pereiro rode a Pinarello Dogma FP magnesium 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.
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.[1] 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."[2]
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).[3]
Doping investigation
On January 18, 2007, French newspaper Le Monde reported that Pereiro 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 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.[5]
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.[6][7] 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.[8] 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.[9]
Palmarès
- 1998
- 1st
Spain U23 Cyclo-Cross Champion
- 2001
- 1st Stage 3 Grande Premio
- 2002
- 1st Stage 5 Setmana Catalana
- 11th Overall Giro d'Italia
- 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
- 2006
- 1st Overall
Winner Overall Classification Tour de France
- 2007
- 1st Stage 1 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya TTT
- 2nd Stage 7 Criterium du Dauphiné Libéré
- 2nd Overall Tour du Limousin
- 10th Overall Tour de France
- 2008
- 3rd Spanish National Road Race Championships
References
- ^ "Pereiro cautious about Landis case". SportsIllustrated.com. 2006-07-27. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more/specials/tour_de_france/2006/07/27/bc.cyc.tourdefrance.per.ap/index.html.
- ^ "I am the Tour champion - Pereiro". BBC Sport. 2006-08-05. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/5249116.stm.
- ^ Landis loses verdict, must forfeit Tour title MSNBC, September 20, 2007
- ^ "Oscar Pereiro, deuxième du Tour de France 2006, a été contrôlé positif pendant la Grande Boucle". Le Monde. 2006-01-18. http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3242,36-857101@51-854647,0.html.
- ^ "France's anti-doping agency drops Pereiro case". USA Today. January 25, 2007. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/cycling/2007-01-25-pereiro-case-dropped_x.htm. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ Pretot, Julien (2006-07-20). "Oscar Pereiro breaks arm in crash". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUSL202360520080720.
- ^ "Pereiro in hospital after spectacular stage 15 fall". VeloNews. 2008-07-20. http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/80467/pereiro-in-hospital-after-spectacular-stage-15-fall.
- ^ "Spain's Oscar Pereiro injured and out of Tour de France after crash". AOL News. 2008-07-21. http://www.aol.com.au/news/story/Spains-Oscar-Pereiro-injured-and-out-of-Tour-de-France-after-crash/743431/index.html.
- ^ "Oscar winning performance". Oscar winning performance. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de-france-news-shorts-7. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
External links
- Óscar Pereiro profile at Cycling Archives
Tour de France combativity award winners
1956 André Darrigade • 1957 Nicolas Barone • 1958 Federico Bahamontes • 1959 Gérard Saint • 1960 Jean Graczyk • 1961 Team West-Southwest • 1962 Eddy Pauwels • 1963 Rik van Looy • 1964 Henry Anglade • 1965 Felice Gimondi • 1966 Rudi Altig • 1967 Désiré Letort • 1968 Roger Pingeon • 1969–1970 Eddy Merckx • 1971 Luis Ocaña • 1972 Cyrille Guimard • 1973 Luis Ocaña • 1974–1975 Eddy Merckx • 1976 Raymond Delisle • 1977 Gerrie Knetemann • 1978 Paul Wellens • 1979 Hennie Kuiper • 1980 Christian Levavasseur • 1981 Bernard Hinault • 1982 Régis Clère • 1983 Serge Demierre • 1984 Bernard Hinault • 1985 Maarten Ducrot • 1986 Bernard Hinault • 1987 Régis Clère • 1988 Jérôme Simon • 1989 Laurent Fignon • 1990 Eduardo Chozas • 1991–1992 Claudio Chiappucci • 1993 Massimo Ghirotto • 1994 Eros Poli • 1995 Hernán Buenahora • 1996–1997 Richard Virenque • 1998–1999 Jacky Durand • 2000 Erik Dekker • 2001–2002 Laurent Jalabert • 2003 Alexander Vinokourov • 2004 Richard Virenque • 2005 Óscar Pereiro • 2006 David de la Fuente • 2007 Amets Txurruka • 2008 Sylvain Chavanel • 2009 None • 2010 Sylvain Chavanel • 2011 Jérémy Roy
Categories:- Galician sportspeople
- Spanish cyclists
- Spanish Tour de France stage winners
- Tour de France winners
- 1977 births
- Living people
- Spanish footballers
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