The Spanish cyclist who stands to become the Tour de France champion if Floyd Landis is stripped of the title was in no mood to celebrate Thursday.
“Should I win the Tour now it would feel like an academic victory,” Oscar Pereiro said. “The way to celebrate a win is in Paris. Otherwise it’s just a bureaucratic win.”
Pereiro finished runner-up to Landis in the Tour, which ended Sunday.
“While I don’t receive a fax confirming a win, I’m not going to celebrate anything,” said Pereiro, who rides for the Caisse D’Epargne-Illes Balears team. “I have too much respect for Landis to do otherwise.”
Pereiro said it was time to be cautious.
“It hurts a lot. It hurts for Landis and for the sport,” he said. “The sport had just been recovering after what happened before the Tour began, and this just hurts it when it was beginning to get over the past.”
Leno spot put on hold
Landis was set to make a triumphant post-Tour de France appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” Instead, the cyclist may end up as comedy fodder for host Leno.
Landis won’t appear on the NBC talk show today as planned, a network spokeswoman said.
The show was informed by a representative for Landis that he was still in Europe and unavailable, the spokeswoman said. The show remains interested in having him on, she added.
Vuelta announces ban
Spain’s Vuelta has barred Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Francisco Mancebo and the Comunidad Valenciana team from the last of Europe’s three major cycling tours this season, race organizers said.
Last month, Ullrich and Basso also were excluded from the Tour de France.
