It really has been a hell of a year for Oscar Pereiro.

Ever since he gained nearly 30 minutes on the road to Montélimar in stage 13 of last year’s Tour de France, his life hasn’t been the same.

He finished runner-up to Floyd Landis, but his life was thrown into turmoil after the American failed anti-doping controls. Everyone in Spain hailed him as the virtual winner of the 2006 Tour, but as the 2007 Tour is a week away from starting in London, the case remains unresolved.

Last winter, the French alleged that Pereiro didn’t provide necessary paperwork to prove he had clearance to use an allergy spray. Without the documentation – which he eventually produced - test results could have been flagged as a failed doping test.

Then accusations were hurled at Pereiro as many began to suspect that the former Phonak rider could among a group of unnamed riders on the infamous Puerto list. Rumors were flying and some newspapers went so far as reporting that Pereiro was “Urco” – one of the infamous code names linking riders to controversial Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes.

A frustrated Pereiro could only answer back in the press, insisting his dog’s name was Zor and that he had nothing to do with Puerto. The happy-go-lucky Pereiro was so demoralized he almost quit cycling.

“I was ready to give it all up,” Pereiro said during a break at the Dauphiné Libéré. “All this shit about Puerto, Urco and the never-ending business about Landis, it took all the fun out of racing for me.”

Pereiro discreetly finished 22nd in the overall and was second in the final stage into Annecy in a sign that he’s finally getting down to business of racing.

“(The Dauphiné) was the first race all season that Oscar is concentrated on racing,” said Caisse d’Epargne sport director Eusebio Unzue. “He’s been distracted by the Landis case, by the false accusations in France. He’s been on the phone constantly, giving interviews to every journalist who calls. He’s been going to celebrations, parties. He was training, but he wasn’t concentrated. We are now starting to see the Oscar we all know.”

Pereiro said he needed to lose two more kilos ahead of the July 7 start of the Tour, but insisted he’ll be in shape to compete at a high level.

“I felt good sensations in the legs from racing at the Dauphiné,” Pereiro said. “I will be ready for the Tour.”

Caisse d’Epargne will start the Tour with Alejandro Valverde as their designated captain and Pereiro returning to his role a joker. That’s assuming, of course, that Tour brass don’t follow up on threats to try to keep both Pereiro and Valverde from starting.

“We don’t expect Oscar to be the team leader at the Tour,” Unzue continued. “We have asked him to race the Tour as he always has, to be an instigator, to attack, to liven up the race. If the circumstances put him in position to go for the GC, then we’ll change our plans accordingly.”

Abnormal values from Giro
Italy’s Corriere Dello Sport reported Monday that Italian anti-doping officials have flagged test results from several top finishers from this year’s Giro d’Italia, including those of winner Danilo Di Luca.

Four riders – Di Luca (Liquigas), third-place finisher Eddy Mazzoleni (Astana), fourth-placed Gilberto Simoni and sixth-placed Riccardo Riccó (both of Saunier Duval) – submitted samples that attracted testers’ attention, not because of elevated hormone levels, but because those levels were actually considerably lower than normal.

Officials from Italy’s national Olympic Committee requested an emergency meeting with UCI president Pat McQuaid in an effort to secure data from the governing body’s on-going longitudinal medical monitoring of the riders in question.

A CONI spokesman said the agency wants to compare those values to the results of the Giro samples.

“The results are of concern, because all four show hormone levels that are not normal for adult males,” the spokesman said. “These results would be more likely to have come from a child rather than a fully mature adult. The fact that four men all produce such results on the same day is extremely bizarre.”

The results are all from tests taken after the Giro’s stage 17 ride to Monte Zoncolan on May 30. (see "Simoni conquers Monte Zoncolan once more.")

One possibility is that the results reflect some sort of effort by riders to mask the use of other drugs. There have also been some recent medical studies to suggest that normal hormone production might be suppressed by the time riders reach the third week of a grand tour.
by Charles Pelkey, editor VeloNews.com

Rogers aiming for top five
Michael Rogers is hoping to improve on his top-10 finish from last year’s Tour de France.

The 27-year-old Aussie will lead T-Mobile’s refitted Tour effort following a controversial house cleaning that saw Jan Ullrich and longtime staffers such as Rudy Pevenage and Olaf Ludwig pushed out following the Puerto scandal ahead of last year’s Tour start.

The purge continues as the team recently cut ties with last year’s yellow jersey holder Sergei Honchar after the Ukraine time trial specialist revealed irregularities in pre-Giro d’Italia blood screenings.

That leaves Rogers to carry the team’s GC hopes in what will be a very different Tour for T-Mobile, long one of the heavy-hitters in the Tour power charts.

“I hope the Tour will go well,” Rogers said on the team’s official web page. “I hope to be in the top 5.”

Rogers picked former teammate Andreas Klöden and Alexandre Vinokourov – now both at Astana – as the top favorites with compatriot Cadel Evans as an outsider for the podium.

Rogers dreams of one day winning the Tour, but Evans has lately stolen the spotlight as the top Australian in the Tour pecking order. That’s fine with him, so long as he someday gets close to Tour victory.

“My condition is much better than this time last year,” he said. “Before I retire from cycling I would at least like to be on the podium of the Tour.” T-Mobile short list for Tour de France
Lorenzo Bernucci (I), 27 years oldMarcus Burghardt (G), 23Mark Cavendish (GB), 22Bernhard Eisel (A), 26Andreas Klier (G), 31Linus Gerdemann (G), 24Bert Grabsch (G), 31Giuseppe Guerini (I), 36Roger Hammond (GB), 33Kim Kirchen (Lux), 28Axel Merckx (B), 34Michael Rogers (Aus), 27Patrik Sinkewitz (G), 27