Oscar Pereiro
It's not often two Tour de France champions ride on the same time. But it will occur during the 2010 season when Oscar Pereiro of Spain joins compatriot Alberto Contador on Team Astana.
Contador, 32, said on a recent Radio Galega program, he'd committed to Astana but had an option to go to Quick Step if the Kazakh team lost its ProTour license. Astana subsequently received notice of its 2010 license, via a UCI announcement.
Pereiro has finished 10th overall in the Tour de France three times. He led the race for several days in 2006 and finished second overall to Floyd Landis. When Landis tested positive for testosterone and was disqualified, Pereiro was awarded the overall title.
Pereiro crashed hard in the 15th stage of the 2008 Tour de France while riding in support of team leader Alejandro Valverde. Pereiro hasn't returned pre-crash form.
Contador won this year's Tour de France as well as the 2007 race. He's claimed the past four grand tours in which he's participated.
In addition to Contador and Pereior, the Astana squad for 2010 includes: Jesus Hernandez, Benjamin Noval, David de la Fuente, Enrico Gasparotto, Gorazd Stangelj and Paolo Tiralongo.
Alexandre Vinokourov is also on the team, but via past doping offenses his future Tour de France participation remains uncertain.
Comments
Not often is right but when it happened just last year that opening line seems a little lame.
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