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Pereiro says he feels like the winner of the Tour now

By AFP
Published: Aug. 5, 2006
Pereiro may end up with the jersey after all
Pereiro may end up with the jersey after all
Photo: Eric Robinson

Oscar Pereiro said he felt like the true Tour de France champion Saturday, after confirmation of a drug test for Floyd Landis that is expected to see the American stripped of the title.

Pereiro said the fact that he now stands to win the title by default after Landis will likely lose the title for doping, would not diminish his achievement.

"Right now I feel like the winner of the Tour de France," Pereiro said at a press conference in Vigo, Spain.

The comments are a shift from Pereiro's initial response, when he said he would be reluctant to accept the yellow jersey after a "bureaucratic victory." On Saturday, however, Pereiro seemed ready to take on the title of Tour de France winner.

"It's a victory for the whole team, " the Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Baleares star said, a sentiment echoed by others connected with the Spanish team.

"You can just about say he is the winner, we will just have to wait for confirmation of that in the months to come," Caisse d'Epargne spokesman Francis Lafargue told AFP. "One cannot but deplore what has happened. It is damaging for cycling in general."