New Delhi: Floyd Landis is no longer the 2006 Tour de France champion. In a special ceremony in Madrid, Oscar Pereiro was officially recognised as winner of the 2006 edition - 15 months after the race.
"Finally, we have a winner and it's Oscar. Oscar, you have won the Tour out on the road," Tour director Christian Prudhomme said at the handover ceremony.
Landis had been stripped of the title after testing positive for synthetic testosterone. Pereiro is the sixth Spaniard to win the Tour.
He had infact held the yellow jersey for five days but was overtaken by Landis, who staged a comeback towards the end of the race.
It was later revealed that Landis had failed the dope test but Pereiro was not awarded victory until the investigation ended.
"The wait was interminable, very frustrating at times. I now realise the Tour organisers had to wait for a resolution and proof of that is the fact that we are all gathered here now, celebrating, knowing that Landis is appealing the decision," Pereiro said after he was awarded the Yellow Jersey.
The International Cycling Union formally declared Pereiro the winner on September 21, one day after a US arbitration panel voted 2-1 to remove the title from Landis for using synthetic testosterone during the Tour.
It's the first time in the 105-year history of the race that a winner has been stripped of the title.
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