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Caisse d'Epargne will most likely claim the biggest prize in cycling for 2006 with Oscar Pereiro being named as the winner of the race although it may not happen until after the conclusion of the 2007 edition.
Caisse d'Epargne is professional road bicycle racing team which participates in the UCI ProTour. The team traces its history back to the Banesto (and later iBanesto.com) of 5-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain, 2-time winner of Vuelta a España Alex Zülle and legendary climber José Maria Jiménez. After the end of ibanesto.com's sponsorship in 2003, the Illes Balears (Balearic Islands) tourism board took over sponsorship of the team.
The team traditionally has a strong Basque element, with general manager Jose Miguel Echavarri and directeurs sportif Usebio Unzue Labiano, Jose Luis Jaimerena and Alfonso Galilea Zurbano. Indeed, Indurain himself was the most famous Basque cyclist. However, it is nowhere as Basque as Euskaltel-Euskadi, which fields an all-Basque team. The team traditionally uses Pinarello bikes with Campagnolo parts (Pinarello supplied the team with "Paris FP Carbon" bicycles for the 2006 Tour de France).
The team fielded a number of strong contenders in the 2005 Tour de France including Francisco Mancebo (former National Champion of Spain), Alejandro Valverde (2004 Tour de France white jersey winner), Vladimir Karpets and sprinter Isaac Gálvez. Mancebo produced the best results finishing fourth overall in the General Classification.
Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears finished fifth overall (56 minutes, 53 seconds behind Team T-Mobile) in the Team Classification at the 2006 Tour de France. Individually, the team's top rider, Óscar Pereiro, finished in second place. It is, however, likely that he will eventually be upgraded to the winner's position. A urine sample taken from Phonak rider and Tour winner Floyd Landis immediately after his Stage 17 win has twice tested positive for banned synthetic testosterone as well as a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone nearly three times the limit allowed by World Anti-Doping Agency rules.[1]
After hearing of the positive "A" test, Pereiro stated that it was only an initial, unconfirmed result and he would not yet consider Landis guilty or himself the Tour winner. "I have too much respect for Landis to do otherwise", he said.[2] After hearing that the Landis "B" test also came back positive, Pereiro stated that he now considers himself Tour champion and the Landis scandal should not diminish his own achievement. "Right now I feel like the winner of the Tour de France", Pereiro said. "It's a victory for the whole team."
