Tour de France runner-up Oscar Pereiro denied doping allegations on Thursday, saying he will send French authorities documentation of his waiver to take an asthma medication during last year's race and then wait for someone to "apologize" to him.
Earlier on Thursday, a report in the French newspaper Le Monde said Pereiro twice tested positive for salbutamol during the Tour, but that the International Cycling Union had granted him a waiver for the asthma medication and was not pursuing sanctions against him.
French anti-doping officials, however, said they were not convinced the waiver was medically justified.
PHOTO: AFP
"Tomorrow morning [Friday] I'll send a fax with the paperwork requested by the French anti-doping agency and then a certified letter, and once this is cleared up I'll wait for whoever needs to, to apologize to me," Pereiro said.
The Spanish cyclist spoke at a hastily convened press conference in the northwestern town of Vigo, accompanied by his personal allergy adviser, Luis Arenas.
"Deep down I'm calm," he said.
Pereiro could inherit the Tour title if American winner Floyd Landis is stripped of the crown.
A doping test showed Landis had elevated ratios of testosterone to epitestosterone. If Landis' appeal fails, he could be banned from cycling for two years.
Calls made on Thursday to French anti-doping agency president Pierre Bordry were not immediately returned, but he was quoted on the Web site of French sports daily L'Equipe.
"He [Pereiro] won't answer us, even though we've told him that he is required to do so," Bordry said. "It seems Pereiro has lost track of the doctor who filled out his forms. Pereiro must prove his innocence. The fact he is unwilling to do so, at this moment, is inadmissible."
Pereiro said he had been cleared by the UCI to use Ventolin, an inhaler prescribed to ease asthma.
Arenas said that Pereiro suffered from "light to moderate" asthma, a "very common illness."
"With the dose recommended in his case, and in the manner it has been prescribed to him, it's impossible that it could have given a positive reading," Arenas said. "The cyclist's own record and a study made in March last year demonstrate that Oscar has a sensitivity in his bronchioles which is greater than that of the average of the population."
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS