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29 July 2006

31 July News ...

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da: Hamburg

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, the ProTour racing goes on. In spite of the wackiest Tour de Frances in years, ProTour racing continues tomorrow in Germany with the 11th edition of the Hamburg Cyclassics.

The favorites for Vattenfall Cyclassics (new name for 2006) are: Erik Zabel (Milram), racing in his home country, Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole), winner of the Tour de France prologue and stage 20 and super-Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov (Astaná-Würth), ready to fire a missile after his Tour exclusion.

Alessandro Ballan, Paolo Bettini and Filippo Pozzato are the big names being touted around the BiciRace.com headquarters. Both Pozzato and Ballan are coming off of three weeks in France, while Bettini is coming off a months rest. Il Grillo Livornese, forcing the cooperation of Pippo, might take his first win in his new Maglia Tricolore. Ballan of Lampre-Fondital, if he finds the right winning move, can crush his rivals in a sprint from a small bunch. Also, don't count out the likes of Cristian Moreni (Cofidis) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank).

After the finish of the one-day classic, the president of the German cycling federation, Rudolf Scharping, an ex-minister of Defense, will hold a meeting between race, ProTour, medical and sponsor representatives. The purpose of the meeting is to draw up a handbook designed to help fight the use of doping in the peloton. The handbook is expected to be released at the end of September.

Vattenfall Cyclassics, 30 July, 243.2K, A Race for the Hard Sprinter
Main Page, Overall Map, Profile, Startlist
Report and Results, Photos
2005 Results

Pereiro... Winner of the 2006 Tour?

Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears) could be the winner of the 93rd Tour de France. We hope this is not the case; another Grand Tour decided after the final stage, like the 2005 Vuelta a España, when Menchov was given the victory over Heras.

If the counter-analysis of Floyd Landis' urine is proved positive then it is quite likely that Spaniard Pereiro would be crowned king of the Tour. It would be the first time in the Tour de France's history that a winner, Landis, was striped of the Maillot Jaune after the race was concluded. But the 28 year-old from Galicia does not want to win in this manner.

Two days ago, Pereiro commented, "I prefer to keep my second place and I hope that Floyd is proven clean after the counter-analysis. Otherwise it would be yet another hard blow for cycling."

From 2002 to 2005 Pereiro road for Swiss Phonak; last year, riding side-by-side with new signing Landis. The Spaniard, prior to last year's Tour, where he won a mountain stage, was hardly known outside of the Iberian Peninsula. This year he rocketed to stardom thanks to a blazing hot transitional stage to Montélimar.

Saturday 15 July, the longest stage of the 2006 Tour, Pereiro took off with six others in an escape initiated at kilometer 21. 210 kilometers later the Spaniard emerged as the race leader after Landis, previously wearing yellow, decided to let the escape go free by 29'57" to ease the workload on his squadra before the Tour's final mountain romp in the Alps.

Pereiro started the Tour as a domestique, after the crash and regiment of Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears teammate Alejandro Valverde he had to switch responsibilities to Vladimir Karpets. But with that crazy day to Montélimar Pereiro became the squadra's leader. Taking the Maillot Jaune twice, for a total of five days in yellow, Pereiro might just be on the verge of winning back the leader's jersey a third and final time.

Landis on Booze Binge

Wednesday, 19 July, after the finish of stage 16 to La Toussuire, Floyd Landis went on a booze binge to ease the pains of losing over eight minutes to his GC rivals. The next day, hangover apparently gone, Il Americano stamped his authority all over stage 17 to Morzine. Landis attacked at the base of the first of five mountain beasts, racing towards Morzine to stake his first Tour stage victory in a breathtaking performance.

Landis explained, "The night before the stage to Morzine I went out with some friends and teammates and I drank two bears and four glasses of Jack Daniel's on the terrace of a bar near our hotel. Usually I don't drink any alcohol during a race but this night I made an exception. I went to sleep at 23.30. The next day I did not have any negative reactions, maybe due to the adrenaline and energy of the Tour."

Searching for answers to his elevated Testosterone/Epitestosterone (T/E) ratio, Landis has suggested booze, thyroid problems and yesterday, simply, a natural occurrence. "When you race, the Testosterone/Epitestosterone parameters are high for all athletes and, in my case, a little bit higher."

Landis confirmed that "this year I have been tested 19 times for doping;" five at the Tour and 14 in other races. "I will call the laboratory where the counter-analysis is taking place and send a representative to ensure all the testing is carried out properly. I don't know when the counter-analysis will be known but the people will immediately know the results."

"The truth is that I raced stronger in this stage, and in all Tour, and I deserve the victory," the 30 year-old continued. "My objective [on the stage to Morzine] was not to take back time in the classification, but to win the stage. I was surprised at how much I gained but I had faith. And I am proud to have own the Tour because I was the strongest of them all."

If booze explains a high T/E ratio then our guess is that Landis' is running a high reading at this moment. All joking aside, No-Fuss Floyd is a worthy winner of the Tour de France but the results of the T/E exams must be known and processed.

Read:
Landis Wants to Clear Name, 28 July
Tour Positive is Landis, 27 July
Tour de France Positive, 27 July

93rd Tour de France - presented by , 1 - 23 July
Main, Startlist, Classifications, Tour Favorites, Team CSC versus T-Mobile
Stages and Maps, Key Stages, Overall Map
Photos, The Dust Devil's Daily Wrap
Simoni and Saunier Duval-Prodir Updates
2005 Results

28 July News ...