Full name Andrea Peron Discipline Road Rider type Domestique Height 1.83 m | Current team Retired Role Rider 1993 Gatorade Weight 70 kg | |
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Born 14 August 1971 (age 45)
Varese, Italy ( 1971-08-14 ) | ||
Andrea Peron (born 14 August 1971) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He competed in the team time trial at the 1992 Summer Olympics winning a silver medal. Peron turned professional in 1993, riding for team Gatorade. He is best remembered for leading the sombre peloton across the finish line in the neutralised Stage 16 of the 1995 Tour de France, the day after the death of his team- and room-mate Fabio Casartelli in a fall.
He is a strong time trialist, with good results in the Italian championships, as well as a 5th place at the 1996 World Time-Trial Championships. From 2002 until his retirement in 2006, he was a domestique on Team CSC. In January 2010 he joined Garmin–Transitions as assistant general manager.
Drug use allegations
Before the 2004 Tour de France, rumours surfaced in the French newspaper Le Monde that Peron, alongside other riders, was still under suspicion for using doping following a police razzia in Sanremo, Italy in June 2001. This would block Andrea Peron from competing in the 2004 Tour de France, as the race organizers did not want any riders under with ongoing trials competing in their race. However, Peron's case had already been closed in December 2003. He had been acquitted for having four painkillers containing caffeine, of which Andrea Peron had used none. The pills had a level of caffeine below the maximum limit allowed by the UCI, the governing body of cycling. Indeed, Peron had already partaken in the 2003 Tour de France the year prior without any complications.