This year's Tour de France runner-up Oscar Pereiro is expected to be the star attraction at the 2007 Tour de France route presentation on Thursday.
Beleaguered winner Floyd Landis won't be there; he's busy fighting doping charges. He wasn't invited anyway, as his team folded after tests on his urine samples showed out-of-balance levels of testosterone in his system.
It will interesting to see if Landis is even mentioned at the event. (He wasn't. See the 2007 Tour de France route.)
VeloNews reports that Pereiro, who rode for Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne, may not be crowned as the Tour winner if and when the US Anti-Doping Agency lays out penalties on Landis.
“In a story in Wednesday's L'Equipe (owned by ASO, which also owns the Tour de France), officials are now reportedly floating the idea of leaving the top spot vacant if Landis loses his legal battle.”
(Oct. 26 update: ProCycling reports that this suggestion caused such a big ruckus in Spain that the idea was dropped; Pereiro will get the title if Landis is convicted.)
Landis isn't the only big name that won't be in attendance. Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich, both implicated but never prosecuted, in last year's Spanish Operacion Puerto affair don't belong to bicycle teams at the moment.
Even Landis nemisis, UCI president Pat McQuaid, wasn't invited to the 2007 Tour de France presentation, reports CyclingNews.
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