Who won the 2006 edition of the Tour De France? To be honest, I had to look it up myself.
I could have told you that Floyd Landis was stripped of the title following his testing positive to doping but as to who was elevated to the victor’s spot, I couldn’t have told you.
For the record, the dubious honour of being the first winner of the Tour de France not to wear the famous maillot jaune on the dais in Paris belongs to Spanish rider Oscar Pereiro.
Though he is doubtlessly proud of his “win”, he will never truly be remembered for winning the Tour De France. Instead, history will remember him as an asterisk victor – the man who took the honour of victory well after the race had finished when it was revealed the man thought to be the victor had won without honour.
Now Pereiro’s fellow Spaniard, Alberto Contador, will be the second man in the history of the world’s most famous bicycle race to be stripped of his victory after having heard the sounds of his national anthem ring out across the Champs Elysees.
Meanwhile, looking up at Contador on that day in July in 2010, was the man who should have been wearing yellow – Andy Schleck.
Schleck and Contador’s battle for supremacy in the 2010 Tour was the stuff of legend but their most famous battles of that year occurred alarmingly close to the 21st of July – the day Contador was to test positive for doping.
There was July the 22nd – the stage on the Col du Tourmalet which saw the two attack each other relentlessly with neither able to gain ascendancy, before Contador graciously allowed Schleck to take the stage win without giving up a second of his lead.
This made Contador only the seventh man in the history of the Tour to win the yellow jersey without winning a single stage of the race and the first since – surprise, surprise – Pereiro.
Of course, Schleck will now be counted among the 90+ riders to have won both a stage and the race itself. But would he have been able to shake Contador and take a Tour-winning lead were it not for the clenbuterol coursing through the Spaniard’s veins?
Then there were the events of July 20th where, on the Port de Balès, Schleck – who was wearing the yellow jersey – attempted to break away from Contador only for his chain to slip from his bike. Contador took advantage of Schleck’s technical troubles and finished the day’s stage having made 37 seconds on Schleck and taken the maillot jaune.
In the end, it was by this exact time – 37 seconds – that Contador won the Tour. Much has been made of this ever since.
Did Contador act without honour in attacking the race leader when he was in technical strife or did he just respond to a challenge from the man in front of him and, by the time he found out why and how he had shook Schleck so easily, the damage was done?
Now though, Contador’s actions on Balès mean nothing because that slipped chain is incomparable to the drugs Contador had on board.
Some would argue in the end justice was served. Contador has been stripped of his 2010 title, will serve a two year ban (which will, with time already served, make him eligible for this year’s Vuelta a Espana) and Andy Schleck will be named as the true winner of the 2010 Tour.
But to those who say justice was served, I would ask one question.
Who won the 2006 Tour?
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