Oscar Pereiro Wears Yellow

The 2006 Tour de France has a new winner and it's Oscar Pereiro. Pereiro was given his yellow jersey today in Spain's Sport Ministry. Floyd Landis was stripped of his title when he lost his appeal on September 20th. Landis tested positive for synthetic testosterone during the 2006 race and has been fighting this positive test ever since. Pereiro was named the winner on September 21st by the International Cycling Union. Landis has decided to appeal the decision but at least for now Oscar Pereiro is the 2006 Tour de France winner.
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ESPN.com reports:

MADRID, Spain -- Oscar Pereiro finally got his hands on the winner's yellow jersey from the 2006 Tour de France on Monday.

"Finally, we have a winner and it's Oscar," Tour director Christian Prudhomme said. "Oscar, you have won the Tour out on the road."

At a podium in offices of Spain's Sport Ministry, far from the Champs-Elysees, Oscar Pereiro stands with his winner's jersey.

The Spaniard moved up from second to first after the disqualification of Floyd Landis for doping.

"I have the feeling of arriving at the end of a thriller, after having spent 14 months thinking about it and not being able to concentrate as I should have on my job," Pereiro said. "It is essentially a kind of release."

The International Cycling Union formally declared Pereiro the winner on Sept. 21, one day after a U.S. arbitration panel voted 2-1 to remove the title from Landis for using synthetic testosterone during the Tour.

It's the first time in the 105-year history of the race that a winner has been stripped of the title.

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