Doping at the 2007 Tour de France
Encyclopedia
The 2007 Tour de France
2007 Tour de France
The 2007 Tour de France, the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 July to 29 July 2007. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain...

 was affected by a series of scandals and speculations related to doping
Doping (sport)
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport is commonly referred to by the term "doping", particularly by those organizations that regulate competitions. The use of performance enhancing drugs is mostly done to improve athletic performance. This is why many sports ban the use of performance...

. By the end of the Tour, two cyclists were dismissed for testing positive, the wearer of the yellow jersey
Yellow jersey
The general classification in the Tour de France is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey .-History:...

 was voluntarily retired by his team for lying about his whereabouts and missing doping tests. A fourth rider was confirmed to having used doping while in a training session prior to the 2007 Tour and a fifth rider tested positive late in the race, with his result being officially announced just after the end of the Tour. Along the way, two teams contesting the competition were asked to withdraw due to positive tests of at least one member.

During the Tour, the events generated a wide array of criticism and a general distrustful and hostile attitude toward the sport of cycling itself from media and public opinion
Public opinion
Public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population. Public opinion can also be defined as the complex collection of opinions of many different people and the sum of all their views....

. Furthermore, the doping allegations also resulted in several team sponsors threatening to retire their support if events advanced further. Some media decided not to wait and German TV channels ARD
ARD (broadcaster)
ARD is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...

 and ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...

 left the Tour once the first scandals broke.

Following the Tour's conclusion, the sport's governing bodies spoke out about ways to combat the prevalence of doping in cycling and key team sponsors elected to withdraw their support due to the damage caused by the scandals. The 2007 Tour de France has been referred to as one of the most controversial Tours. Shortly after the end of the Tour, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

 of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 ranked it 4th in its list of the top 50 sporting scandals.

Background

Since the introduction of doping tests in 1964, many cyclists were caught in the Tour the France. In recent years, 1996 Tour de France
1996 Tour de France
The 1996 Tour de France was the 83rd Tour de France, starting on June 29 and ending on July 21, featuring 19 regular stages, 2 individual time trials, a prologue and a rest day ....

 winner Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Lykkegård Riis , nicknamed The Eagle from Herning , is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer who placed first in the 1996 Tour de France, and is now the team owner and manager of Danish UCI ProTour outfit Team Saxo Bank Sungard...

 and points classification winner Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel is a former German professional road bicycle racer who last raced with Milram. With over 200 professional wins he is considered by some one of the greatest German cyclists and best cycling sprinters of history...

, along with most of their Team Telekom team-mates, confessed to using erythropoietin
Erythropoietin
Erythropoietin, or its alternatives erythropoetin or erthropoyetin or EPO, is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production...

 (EPO). In 1997, former points classification winner Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
Djamolidine Abdoujaparov is a former professional road racing cyclist from Uzbekistan. Abdoujaparov was a sprinter, nicknamed "The Tashkent Terror" as he was so ferocious in the sprints...

 was disqualified from the Tour de France for doping use. In 1998, the Festina affair
Festina affair
The Festina Affair refers to the events that surrounded several doping scandals, doping investigations and confessions by riders to doping that occurred during and after the 1998 Tour de France. The affair began when a large haul of doping products was found in a car of the Festina cycling team...

 had several main contenders removed from the race. In the next years, several riders were removed from the Tour de France for doping (see List of doping cases in cycling).

In addition, several riders were not allowed to start the previous Tour
2006 Tour de France
The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd Tour de France, taking place from July 1 to July 23, 2006. It was won by Óscar Pereiro following the disqualification of apparent winner Floyd Landis....

, including Jan Ullrich
Jan Ullrich
Jan Ullrich is a German former professional road bicycle racer. In 1997, he was the first German to win the Tour de France. He went on to take five second places and a fourth in 2004 and third in 2005. He is considered one of the best time-trialists in the history of the sport...

 and Ivan Basso
Ivan Basso
Ivan Basso is an Italian professional road bicycle racer who is currently racing with UCI ProTeam . Basso, nicknamed Ivan the Terrible, is among the best mountain riders in the professional field in the 21st century, and is considered one of the strongest stage race riders...

 because of their involvement in the Operación Puerto doping case
Operación Puerto doping case
Operación Puerto is the code name of a Spanish Police operation against the doping network of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, started in May 2006, which resulted in a scandal that involved several of the world most famous cyclists at the time.Media attention has focused on the small number of...

, a Spanish investigation against doctor Eufemiano Fuentes
Eufemiano Fuentes
Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes is a Spanish sports doctor best known for being implicated in the Operación Puerto doping case.Fuentes was once an athlete. He then became the team doctor of Team ONCE, Amaya and the Kelme. The former Kelme rider Jesús Manzano accused Fuentes of being involved with doping....

 and a number of accomplices accused of administering prohibited doping products to approximately two hundred professional athletes, to enhance their performance.

Subsequent to the completion of the 2006 Tour, testing of the winner Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis is an American retired cyclist who after initially being awarded victory in the 2006 Tour de France was stripped of his title for a doping offense. He was an all-around rider, with special skills in climbing and time-trialing, and is also known to be a very fast descender.Landis...

 revealed an elevated testosterone
Testosterone
Testosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group and is found in mammals, reptiles, birds, and other vertebrates. In mammals, testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females, although small amounts are also secreted by the adrenal glands...

 to epitestosterone
Epitestosterone
Epitestosterone is a natural steroid, an inactive epimer of the hormone testosterone. Structurally, it differs from testosterone only in the configuration at the OH-bearing carbon, C17...

 ratio
Ratio
In mathematics, a ratio is a relationship between two numbers of the same kind , usually expressed as "a to b" or a:b, sometimes expressed arithmetically as a dimensionless quotient of the two which explicitly indicates how many times the first number contains the second In mathematics, a ratio is...

 on a sample taken following Stage 17 of the race and, at the time of the 2007 Tour prologue, the results of an independent arbitration hearing were still pending (he was later stripped of his 2006 Tour title in September 2007) and accordingly Landis was prevented from defending the title. (For more details, see Floyd Landis doping case
Floyd Landis doping case
The Floyd Landis doping case is a doping scandal that featured Floyd Landis, the initial winner of the 2006 Tour de France. After a meltdown in Stage 16, where he had lost ten minutes, Landis came back, superhumanly, if suspiciously in Stage 17 riding solo and passing his whole team...

.)

Events immediately prior to the Tour

Alessandro Petacchi
Alessandro Petacchi
Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for .A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 51 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010.In 2007 Alessandro was banned from cycling...

, a sprint specialist
Cycling sprinter
A cycling sprinter is a road bicycle racer or track racer who can finish a race very explosively by accelerating quickly to a high speed, often using the slipstream of another cyclist or group of cyclists tactically to conserve energy.-The road sprinter:...

, tested positive for salbutamol
Salbutamol
Salbutamol or albuterol is a short-acting β2-adrenergic receptor agonist used for the relief of bronchospasm in conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is marketed as Ventolin among other brand names....

 at Pinerolo
Pinerolo
Pinerolo is a town and comune in north-western Italy, 40 kilometres southwest of Turin on the river Chisone.-History:In the Middle Ages, the town of Pinerolo was one of the main crossroads in Italy, and was therefore one of the principal fortresses of the dukes of Savoy. Its military importance...

 on 23 May in the 2007 Giro d'Italia
2007 Giro d'Italia
The 2007 Giro d'Italia was the 90th running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place from 12 May to 3 June 2007. The race began in Sardinia and finished in Milan, and featured five mountain top finishes, of which one was an individual time trial...

, the same day he claimed the third of his five stage wins in the event. As a result Petacchi, an asthma
Asthma
Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...

 sufferer, was suspended by Team Milram
Team MILRAM
Team Milram was a German pro cycling team, participating at the UCI ProTour.The pro cycling team was founded in the beginning of 2006, taking over the UCI ProTeam license of Team Domina Vacanze. The main sponsor is the Milram brand of the Bremen based Nordmilch company...

 and forced to miss the Tour de France because of the charges. Though he seemed cleared of the charges at one point, he was later suspended for one year.

On May 25, Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Lykkegård Riis , nicknamed The Eagle from Herning , is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer who placed first in the 1996 Tour de France, and is now the team owner and manager of Danish UCI ProTour outfit Team Saxo Bank Sungard...

 admitted he had won the overall competition of the 1996 edition
1996 Tour de France
The 1996 Tour de France was the 83rd Tour de France, starting on June 29 and ending on July 21, featuring 19 regular stages, 2 individual time trials, a prologue and a rest day ....

 under the effects of performance-enhancing drugs, claiming "for a time [doping] was a part of everyday life for me", and he was later stripped of the title. Five other former Telekom teammates were also implicated in doping. On May 24, riders Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel is a former German professional road bicycle racer who last raced with Milram. With over 200 professional wins he is considered by some one of the greatest German cyclists and best cycling sprinters of history...

 and Rolf Aldag
Rolf Aldag
Rolf Aldag is a former professional road bicycle racer who rode for Team Telekom from 1993 to 2005. He has raced in 10 Tour de France, 1 Giro d'Italia and 5 Vuelta a España...

 had earlier admitted to using banned blood booster EPO
Erythropoietin
Erythropoietin, or its alternatives erythropoetin or erthropoyetin or EPO, is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production...

 in the mid-1990s.

Other high-profile potential Tour riders were caught up in doping controversies. Giro d'Italia
Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...

 winner Danilo di Luca
Danilo Di Luca
Danilo Di Luca is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode for numerous UCI Professional Continental teams throughout his career including Liquigas-Bianchi and . He holds victories in the Giro di Lombardia in 2001, the 2005 UCI ProTour and won both the Giro d'Italia and the spring...

 remained under investigation and 2006 Giro winner Ivan Basso was banned for two years on 15 June for his part in events uncovered by Operación Puerto.

During the Tour

Despite Petacchi's positive result prior to the Tour prologue, the first stages were uneventful in terms of doping allegations. It was not until Stage 8 before the first doping allegations surfaced against one of the participants. German cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz
Patrik Sinkewitz
Patrik Sinkewitz is a professional German road racing cyclist for . He is a climbing specialist who can ride well over a stage race, as in winning the 2004 nine-stage Deutschland Tour. He has also ridden well in one-day races such as Liège–Bastogne–Liège, which he finished in the top 10 in 2006...

 tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone
Testosterone
Testosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group and is found in mammals, reptiles, birds, and other vertebrates. In mammals, testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females, although small amounts are also secreted by the adrenal glands...

 at a June 8, 2007 pre-Tour training camp.

Immediately prior to Stage 12, reports began to surface that the then current race leader, Michael Rasmussen
Michael Rasmussen
Michael Rasmussen is a Danish professional road bicycle racer who rides for the Danish team Christina Watches-Onfone. In the 2007 Tour de France, Rasmussen, while in the yellow jersey, had his contract terminated by his team and was removed from the Tour...

 had been dropped by the Danish Cycling Union in the month prior to the Tour following claims he had missed three out-of-competition doping tests. Tour director Christian Prudhomme
Christian Prudhomme
Christian Prudhomme is a French sports journalist and general director of the Tour de France since 2005.-Pre-Tour career:...

 nevertheless allowed the rider to continue in the absence of a positive test result.

Days later on 24 July, pre-race favourite Alexandre Vinokourov was withdrawn from the Tour after Stage 15. Vinokourov had returned a positive A test for an illegal blood transfusion
Blood doping
Blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream in order to enhance athletic performance. Because such blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, a higher concentration in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity and...

 from a compatible donor before the Stage 13 individual time trial
Individual time trial
An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...

 on July 21, in which he placed first. The result of the positive test was confirmed to the Tour authorities by the Astana Team
Astana Team
Astana is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Astana group, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Astana attained UCI ProTeam status in its inaugural year, 2007...

 and not by the Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland....

 (UCI), the international governing body for competitive cycling. In addition to Vinokourov, who was in 23rd place overall, the entire Astana Team team was withdrawn from the race, affecting highly-placed riders such as 5th placed Andreas Klöden
Andreas Klöden
Andreas Klöden is a German professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . His major achievements include a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and second place in the 2004 Tour de France and 2006 Tour de France...

 and 8th placed Andrey Kashechkin
Andrey Kashechkin
Andrey Kashechkin is a Kazakhstani road racing cyclist, who rides for the UCI ProTour team .Kashechkin was born in Kyzyl-Orda, in the former Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic....

 (Kashechkin later also tested positive for a transfusion from a compatible donor, leading to speculation that he and Vinokourov had mistakenly been transfused with each other's blood).

The following day, after finishing Stage 16 - which had begun with a protest by riders (see below, Reaction to events) - it emerged that Italian cyclist Cristian Moreni
Cristian Moreni
Cristian Moreni is an Italian road racing cyclist who rode for Cofidis, le Crédit par Téléphone in the UCI ProTour....

 had tested positive for testosterone
Testosterone
Testosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group and is found in mammals, reptiles, birds, and other vertebrates. In mammals, testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females, although small amounts are also secreted by the adrenal glands...

 after Stage 11, in which he finished 102nd. He was immediately pulled out of the race by his team, Cofidis
Cofidis (cycling team)
Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne is a French professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by a money-lending company, Cofidis. It was started in 1996 by Cyrille Guimard the former manager of Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon of the Renault-Elf team of the 1980s...

 (who had participated in the day's protest). Team Cofidis then voluntarily retired the rest of their riders from the Tour.

In a dramatic twenty-four hour period, Michael Rasmussen was withdrawn from the Tour by his team Rabobank
Rabobank (cycling)
Rabobank is a professional bicycle racing team, sponsored by the Rabobank. The team consists of three sections: ProTeam , Continental , and Cyclo-cross...

 (still in the yellow jersey) hours after winning Stage 16 after his team decided Rasmussen had violated the team's internal rules. The Danish rider had given incorrect information to Rabobank's sports director
Directeur sportif
A directeur sportif is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event...

 about his whereabouts which followed on from earlier reports that he had missed previous doping control tests.

With the sport reeling from the revelations, the Tour continued as allegations began to surface regarding new race leader Alberto Contador
Alberto Contador
Alberto Contador Velasco is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . He was the winner of the 2007 Tour de France with the team. With the Astana team he has won the 2008 Giro d'Italia, the 2008 Vuelta a España, the 2009 Tour de France, the 2010 Tour de France and won 2011 Giro...

 (see Alberto Contador below). While no further rider or team withdrawals occurred before the race's conclusion in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, it later emerged that two more riders Andrej Kashechkin and Iban Mayo
Iban Mayo
Iban Mayo Diez is a professional road bicycle racer. His successes have been overshadowed by doping....

 had tested positive for doping during the Tour's later stages.

Reaction to events during the Tour

Prior to Rasmussen's exit, the doping revelations of Sinkewitz and Vinokourov had been met with defiance by the UCI
Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland....

, the Tour organizers and the majority of the European press (with certain exceptions) however, with Rasmussen's sacking whilst wearing the yellow jersey (no rider had previously been withdrawn from the race while leading), the mood became more pessimistic, with the exception of Tour director Christian Prudhomme
Christian Prudhomme
Christian Prudhomme is a French sports journalist and general director of the Tour de France since 2005.-Pre-Tour career:...

 who publicly regarded the Dane's withdrawal as "the best thing that can happen to the Tour. The race will go on for the rest of the riders and we believe it would be an insult to them to stop the race. We believe the general classification is much better now than it was."

Prudhomme's reaction was in contrast to the French newspapers. France Soir
France Soir
France Soir is a French daily newspaper that prospered during the 1950s and 1960s, but it has declined since then under various owners. It was re-launched as a populist tabloid in 2006.-History:...

 ran a mock death notice
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...

 declaring the Tour had died "at age 104, after a long illness." Declaring further: "The Tour is clinically dead. It is a broken toy, a burst soap bubble popped by careless kids, unaware that they are damaging themselves, their health and their childhood dreams as well...It's all the more painful as we had almost begun to believe in the Tour again... in these soap-and-water cyclists who we were so ready to love. But instead of dreams, the last 48 hours have been a living nightmare."

A similar editorial in Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...

 announced: "It really doesn't matter who wins the Tour. The 2007 edition died on 24 July on the heights of Loudenvielle...Killed by Alexandre Vinokourov, idolised by the media and cycling fans, but revealed to have the blood of another running in his veins on the finishing line. Damn Vinokourov! He sullied the infinite beauty of the Pyrenees, dirtied cycling a little more and further discredited the Tour de France."

Another French newspaper, Libération
Libération
Libération is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Originally a leftist newspaper, it has undergone a number of shifts during the 1980s and 1990s...

s editorial demanded "The Tour must be stopped", describing the procession of cyclists as a "caravan of ridicule".

The British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 popular media who had previously acclaimed the success of the Tour's prologue in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and the first stage through Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, were similarly critical calling it the Tour de Farce (Daily Mirror) and declaring it a "Corrupt race populated by a cast of frauds heading straight into the gutter" (The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

). Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger
Tages-Anzeiger
Tages-Anzeiger, also abbreviated Tagi or TA, is a German language Swiss national daily newspaper based in Zurich. Among newspapers in Switzerland, it has one of the largest readerships, reaching around 550,000 readers. The Tages-Anzeiger was first published in 1893...

 reduced its coverage of the race in protest to minimal reporting of results and full reporting of any doping stories.

German television broadcasters ARD
ARD (broadcaster)
ARD is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...

 and ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...

 stopped covering the race (after they vowed to in the Tour prelude) when Patrik Sinkewitz was revealed to have tested positive following Stage 8. Most other media decided to stay, and some even criticised the German decision.

Sponsors similarly indicated their unwillingness to continue to support a sport dogged by scandal, most noticeably Gerolsteiner and T-Mobile
T-Mobile
T-Mobile International AG is a German-based holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

 (the latter subsequently withdrew from sponsoring cycling later in the year). Team Rabobank's head of sponsorship Heleen Crielaard reacted to the Rasmussen dismissal stating: "We are a bank and we want to be reliable. One thing we definitely do not appreciate is lying..." although denied suggestions that they had influenced the decision to sack the rider.

Despite calls for the Tour to be cancelled mid-race, the race continued principally on the basis that the race itself and its history is bigger than individual events.

UCI director Pat McQuaid
Pat McQuaid
Patrick "Pat" McQuaid is a former Irish professional road racing cyclist and current president of the Union Cycliste Internationale .-Background:...

 urged team directors and the riders to take responsibility:
"The teams need to have more control over their riders.."They are the ones who need to clean out the riders who are iffy, they need to ensure they can guarantee that everyone of their riders is riding clean and riding fairly. The evidence is that most of the time these riders are dealing with individuals from outside their team and the sport whether it be pseudo doctors and chemists who are promising them things. That has got to stop. More and more riders...are speaking out and it's the younger generation of riders coming in that are going to be the future of the sport. They have to come into a system that is completely ethically correct. But at the end of the day, the rider is the one who makes the decisions..We are in the process of changing that culture and it will change in time. We need to weed out the bad apples. I hope next year we have a Tour de France with no positive tests. We've had two bad Tour de Frances, we cannot afford a third."


Eddy Merckx
Eddy Merckx
Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx , better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional cyclist. The French magazine Vélo called him "the most accomplished rider that cycling has ever known." The American publication, VeloNews, called him the greatest and most successful cyclist of all...

 who had won the Tour on five occasions, commented: "my heart is no longer in it" in response to his support for the Tour. Another Belgian rider Johan Museeuw
Johan Museeuw
Johan Museeuw is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1988 to 2004 and was particularly successful in the classic cycle races in the nineties....

 (who had previously received a two-year ban for doping), suggested doping and drug use were a possible consequence of the difficulty of riding the Tour in its current format. Questioning why stages had to be so long and including several arduous 'out-of-category' mountain climbs. However, Prudhomme defended the Tour telling reporters that "you do not cheat because it is too hard, you cheat because you want to be first."

Following Vinokourov's exit, Patrice Clerc
Patrice Clerc
Patrice Clerc was a past president of the Amaury Sport Organisation which promotes a number of professional cycling events including the Tour de France. Previously, Clerc served as president and tournament director of the French Open tennis tournament from 1984-2000...

 president of Tour organisers Amaury Sport Organisation
Amaury Sport Organisation
The Amaury Sport Organisation is part of the French media group, EPA . It organises sporting events including the Tour de France and Paris–Nice professional cycle road races, and the Dakar Rally...

 (ASO) stated: "I am not downcast and I am all the more determined to go all the way in this fight...It may seem paradoxical but we are closing in on victory. I have been saying we have started a merciless war against doping...We live in dark times and it is out of the question to give up, it is out of the question to leave the place to those who cheat."

Particularly strong reaction came from Jean-Francois Lamour
Jean-François Lamour
Jean-François Lamour is a former French fencer and current French politician and cabinet minister. A top fencer, he was a gold medallist at the 1984 Olympics and 1988 Olympics and a bronze medal winner at the 1992 Olympics in the men's individual sabre. He was also world champion in 1987...

, vice president of the World Anti-Doping Agency
World Anti-Doping Agency
The World Anti-Doping Agency , , is an independent foundation created through a collective initiative led by the International Olympic Committee . It was set up on November 10, 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a result of what was called the "Declaration of Lausanne", to promote, coordinate and...

 who called for the Tour de France to be banned entirely and for road cycling
Road cycling
Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling. It includes recreational, racing, and utility cycling. Road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same rules and laws as other vehicle drivers or riders and may also be vehicular cyclists....

 to be withdrawn from the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 and former British Olympic Association
British Olympic Association
The British Olympic Association is the national Olympic committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It was formed in 1905 in the House of Commons, and at that time consisted of seven national governing body members from the following sports: fencing, life-saving, cycling, skating, rowing,...

 chairman Sir Craig Reedie suggested that road cyclists might be required to hold an "anti-doping passport".

French Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

 François Fillon
François Fillon
François Charles Armand Fillon is the Prime Minister of France. He was appointed to that office by President Nicolas Sarkozy on 17 May 2007. He served initially until 13 November 2010 when he resigned from being prime minister before a planned cabinet reshuffle.On 14 November 2010, Sarkozy...

 attempted to stem the tide of negativity stating: "Obviously this gives a disastrous image of the Tour de France, but at the same time, if we encourage the organisers, we can clean up French sports and in particular cycling"; whilst Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....

, the French president, demonstrated support by joining the Tour and following the race leaders in the Tour director's car.

Prior to Stage 16 a group of riders from eight teams - six from France plus German outfits Team Gerolsteiner
Team Gerolsteiner
Gerolsteiner was a German road bicycle racing team in the UCI ProTour. It was sponsored by the mineral water company Gerolsteiner Brunnen and Specialized....

 and T-Mobile Team
T-Mobile Team
HTC-Highroad is a professional cycling team competing in international road bicycle races. Their current title sponsor is HTC Corporation, a Taiwanese manufacturer of smartphones. High Road Sports is the management company of team manager Bob Stapleton. Past title sponsors include Columbia...

 - forming the Mouvement pour un cyclisme crédible
Mouvement pour un cyclisme crédible
Mouvement pour un Cyclisme Crédible or Movement For Credible Cycling is a union created on July 24, 2007 by seven sponsored teams of professional cyclists : AG2R Prévoyance, Agritubel, Bouygues Télécom, Cofidis, Crédit Agricole, Française des Jeux and Gerolsteiner...

 (or Movement for Credible Cycling), delayed the start of the Tour by thirteen minutes asking for all teams to abide by their good behaviour charter of 2005, under which teams are requested to avoid fielding riders implicated in doping affairs. The protest was in obvious contrast to the 1998 reaction which was at odds with authorities, protesting at the heavy-handed treatment of riders.

Tour riders generally remained positive however. Fabian Cancellara
Fabian Cancellara
Fabian Cancellara is a Swiss professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . A time trial specialist, he is a four-time World Time Trial Champion and is the current Olympic gold medalist...

, Cedric Vasseur
Cédric Vasseur
Cédric Vasseur is a French former professional road racing cyclist. He was born in Hazebrouck, France and currently resides in Lille with his wife and young son...

 and David Millar
David Millar
David Millar is a British road racing cyclist riding for . He has won three stages of the Tour de France, two of the Vuelta a España and one Stage of the Giro d'Italia. He was the British national road champion and the national time trial champion, both in 2007...

 all stated publicly that they believed the consensus among riders in the peloton
Peloton
The peloton , field, bunch or pack is the large main group of riders in a road bicycle race. Riders in a group save energy by riding close near other riders...

 was that anti-doping measures were effective and the sport would continue to benefit from the harder line.

Patrik Sinkewitz

Despite the rider's positive test result relating to a pre-Tour training camp, Sinkewitz competed in the race until Stage 8, when he collided with a spectator and withdrew from the event, at which point the test result emerged. Sinkewitz initially denied the allegation and called for his B sample to be tested. German television withdrew from covering the Tour in protest when his positive test came to light. On 31 July Sinkewitz subsequently retracted his denial and confessed to using a testosterone gel on his upper arms whilst training. Accepting the positive test result, Sinkewitz stated that: "It was a big mistake and irresponsible toward my team, colleagues, the sponsor and the whole of cycling." T-Mobile responded to the admission by sacking Sinkewitz with immediate effect.

Alexandre Vinokourov

Alexandre Vinokourov began the Tour as one of the favourites. Vinokourov's A test revealed two different types of red blood cell
Red blood cell
Red blood cells are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate organism's principal means of delivering oxygen to the body tissues via the blood flow through the circulatory system...

s in his circulatory system indicating he had a blood transfusion
Blood transfusion
Blood transfusion is the process of receiving blood products into one's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used in a variety of medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood...

 prior to the stage. A blood transfusion is meant to increase the number of red blood cells in the body, improving oxygen flow from the lungs to the muscles. Vinokourov rejected the positive test, blaming the anomaly on excessive blood flow in his thigh
Thigh
In humans the thigh is the area between the pelvis and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb.The single bone in the thigh is called the femur...

s following a heavy collision earlier in the Tour. Accordingly he asked for his B sample to be tested; however, the lab test for locating blood cells from another donor in "old fashioned" homologous transfusions is considered fool-proof. It was later revealed that he had also tested positive on his win of stage 15, and that his B sample had since returned "non-negative". Astana responded by sacking Vinokourov.

Cristian Moreni

Cofidis rider Moreni was placed 54th at the time he was withdrawn from the Tour and had participated in the rider protest prior to Stage 16. His positive test related to Stage 11 and Moreni decided not to ask for his B sample to be tested, admitting to doping according to Cofidis team manager Eric Boyer
Eric Boyer
Eric Boyer was a French professional road bicycle racer. In the 1988 Tour de France, Boyer finished on the 5th place in the overall classification. Boyer won a stage in the 1991 Giro d'Italia. After his cycling career, Boyer worked for television and newspapers. He is currently manager of the...

.

Iban Mayo

Spanish cyclist Iban Mayo
Iban Mayo
Iban Mayo Diez is a professional road bicycle racer. His successes have been overshadowed by doping....

 was tested for doping on the second rest day, on July 24. The test came back positive for EPO
Erythropoietin
Erythropoietin, or its alternatives erythropoetin or erthropoyetin or EPO, is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production...

 after the Tour's conclusion. He was subsequently suspended by his team Saunier Duval-Prodir
Saunier Duval-Prodir
Geox-TMC is a Spanish-based road bicycle racing team, registered for 2011 as a UCI Professional Continental team. Established as Saunier Duval-Prodir in 2004, the team has had success in one-day races such as Clásica de San Sebastián....

. Mayo had previously tested positive for a high testosterone
Testosterone
Testosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group and is found in mammals, reptiles, birds, and other vertebrates. In mammals, testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females, although small amounts are also secreted by the adrenal glands...

-to-epitestosterone
Epitestosterone
Epitestosterone is a natural steroid, an inactive epimer of the hormone testosterone. Structurally, it differs from testosterone only in the configuration at the OH-bearing carbon, C17...

 ratio during the 2007 Giro d'Italia
2007 Giro d'Italia
The 2007 Giro d'Italia was the 90th running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place from 12 May to 3 June 2007. The race began in Sardinia and finished in Milan, and featured five mountain top finishes, of which one was an individual time trial...

, but on that occasion UCI found that he had not breached any doping regulation. Mayo placed 16th overall in the 2007 Tour. It later emerged in October 2007 that Mayo's B-sample would be re-tested after results from a laboratory in Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...

 returned inconclusive results.

Michael Rasmussen

Despite being tested negative for doping before the Tour and seventeen times during the Tour, Michael Rasmussen
Michael Rasmussen
Michael Rasmussen is a Danish professional road bicycle racer who rides for the Danish team Christina Watches-Onfone. In the 2007 Tour de France, Rasmussen, while in the yellow jersey, had his contract terminated by his team and was removed from the Tour...

's withdrawal was for violation of team rules. According to Rabobank, he had told the UCI and the team that he was training in Mexico from June 4 to June 26, 2007. Italian cycling journalist and former cyclist Davide Cassani
Davide Cassani
Davide Cassani is a former road cyclist from Italy. He now works as a cycling commentator on Italian television.He was born in Faenza. In 1982 he made his professional debut with Termolan-Galli...

 told a Danish television channel that he had seen Rasmussen on June 13 and 14 in the Dolomites
Dolomites
The Dolomites are a mountain range located in north-eastern Italy. It is a part of Southern Limestone Alps and extends from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley...

 in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. When Rabobank team director Theo de Rooij
Theo de Rooij
Theo de Rooij is a retired Dutch former bicycle racer and former manager of the Rabobank cycling team - a position from which he resigned after the 2007 Tour de France. De Rooij was a professional rider from 1980 to 1990. He started his career in Belgian teams and the last eight years of his...

 confronted Rasmussen with this story, according to news reports he allegedly admitted the lie. Rasmussen denied admitting this, however and told a Dutch newspaper (Algemeen Dagblad
Algemeen Dagblad
The Algemeen Dagblad is a Dutch newspaper. Founded in Rotterdam in 1946, it currently has a daily circulation of 315,000. The newspaper is owned by AD NieuwsMedia, a joint venture between Wegener and PCM Uitgevers....

) "My career is ruined". According to Team Rabobank spokesman Jacob Bergsma, Rasmussen's withdrawal was ordered by sponsor Rabobank
Rabobank
Rabobank is a financial services provider with offices worldwide. Their main location is in the Netherlands. They are a global leader in Food and Agri financing and in sustainability-oriented banking...

.

Rasmussen had previously been given two warnings from UCI and two warnings from Anti Doping Denmark for missing out-of-competition doping controls. Three warnings from either organization would have landed him with a ban. The warnings had no immediate consequences, but cast a cloud of doubt about whether Rasmussen was doping.

Michael Rasmussen's withdrawal came immediately after his dramatic victory in the Stage 16, defending multiple attacks from Alberto Contador
Alberto Contador
Alberto Contador Velasco is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . He was the winner of the 2007 Tour de France with the team. With the Astana team he has won the 2008 Giro d'Italia, the 2008 Vuelta a España, the 2009 Tour de France, the 2010 Tour de France and won 2011 Giro...

 on a gruelling mountain pass. At the time he was holding the yellow jersey, leading the race by three minutes and ten seconds, and was the favorite to win the Tour.

Over three months later on 8 November, Danish newspapers reported that Rasmussen had admitted misleading the UCI as to his whereabouts, an offence that carries a penalty of two years suspension.

Alberto Contador

Alberto Contador
Alberto Contador
Alberto Contador Velasco is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . He was the winner of the 2007 Tour de France with the team. With the Astana team he has won the 2008 Giro d'Italia, the 2008 Vuelta a España, the 2009 Tour de France, the 2010 Tour de France and won 2011 Giro...

 was not allowed to start in the 2006 Tour de France
2006 Tour de France
The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd Tour de France, taking place from July 1 to July 23, 2006. It was won by Óscar Pereiro following the disqualification of apparent winner Floyd Landis....

 due to his possible involvement with the Operación Puerto doping case
Operación Puerto doping case
Operación Puerto is the code name of a Spanish Police operation against the doping network of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, started in May 2006, which resulted in a scandal that involved several of the world most famous cyclists at the time.Media attention has focused on the small number of...

 in which he had been referred to by key persons who were the subject of investigation. He was subsequently cleared and allowed to start in 2007, going on to win the Tour. Contador signed a commitment in which he stated: "I am not involved in the Puerto affair nor in any other doping case". But according to documents obtained by the French newspaper Le Monde, he was still involved in the Puerto affair and therefore should not have been allowed to start the 2007 Tour. Since Contador was the only rider able to stay with Rasmussen on two arduous stages in the Alps and Pyrenees, several journalists focused on his relationship with Eufemiano Fuentes
Eufemiano Fuentes
Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes is a Spanish sports doctor best known for being implicated in the Operación Puerto doping case.Fuentes was once an athlete. He then became the team doctor of Team ONCE, Amaya and the Kelme. The former Kelme rider Jesús Manzano accused Fuentes of being involved with doping....

 and his role in Operación Puerto, without uncovering new evidence. Contador was tested five times during the Tour, and no discrepancies were reported.

After the Tour, German doping expert Werner Franke
Werner Franke
Werner Franke is a professor of cell and molecular biology at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg.After completing high school , he studied chemistry, biology and physics at the University of Heidelberg...

, who had complete access to Puerto documents, accused him of having taken drugs in the past. On August 10, in response to increasing suspicion about links to the Operación Puerto blood-doping ring alleged by Franke, Alberto Contador publicly declared himself a clean rider: "I have never doped and I have never participated in an act of doping," said Contador, reading from a prepared statement. "I won the Tour clean. I cannot understand the attacks against by people that don't even know me. My commitment is absolute and I will always be ready to collaborate in the fight against doping." Contador was joined by Discovery Channel team manager Johan Bruyneel
Johan Bruyneel
Johan Bruyneel is a former road bicycle racer in professional cycling and a directeur sportif for UCI ProTour team . Retiring from racing in 1998, he became director of , a US-based UCI ProTour cycling team...

, Spanish sports minister Jaime Lissavetzky and members of his family.

Other developments

In addition to the sacking and resignations of a number of riders (see above) it was announced on 31 July that Team Astana had suspended team activities for one month, stating that: "Following recent events, we have decided to stop our activities until the end of August...This period of time will be the opportunity for deep questioning." and two weeks after the Tour had finished it emerged that team-rider Andrej Kashechkin had also tested positive for doping. The Astana team were later banned from entering the next Grand Tour
Grand Tour (cycling)
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:* Tour de France – Tour of France , held in July* Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy , held in May...

 of the season, the 2007 Vuelta a España
2007 Vuelta a España
The 2007 Vuelta a España, the sixty-second edition of the cycle race, took place from September 1 until September 23, 2007. For the first time in a decade, the race started in the region of Galicia, at Vigo, home to Óscar Pereiro, with a flat stage...

 (or Tour of Spain) as a direct result of the failed doping tests of three of the team's riders.

On 3 August Team Rabobank's general director, Theo de Rooij
Theo de Rooij
Theo de Rooij is a retired Dutch former bicycle racer and former manager of the Rabobank cycling team - a position from which he resigned after the 2007 Tour de France. De Rooij was a professional rider from 1980 to 1990. He started his career in Belgian teams and the last eight years of his...

 announced his resignation from the team as a consequence of the events.

Both Michael Rasmussen and Alberto Contador were excluded from the Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 Cyclassics race later in the month after the Tour due to continuing allegations linking both riders to doping.

As well as the international media, professional riders and sponsors, a number of organisations involved with the Tour and professional cycling made statements about the future of the sport and the impact of doping. The Discovery Channel Team subsequently announced they would be disbanding at the end of the 2007 season citing the "situation in the sport" at the time as one of the factors in their failure to find new sponsors. Later in the year T-Mobile
T-Mobile
T-Mobile International AG is a German-based holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

 confirmed they would withdraw from sponsoring professional cycling in order to distance themselves from doping scandals which included Patrik Sinkewitz's positive test result in the 2007 Tour and previous admissions of doping by former T-Mobile team riders including Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Lykkegård Riis , nicknamed The Eagle from Herning , is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer who placed first in the 1996 Tour de France, and is now the team owner and manager of Danish UCI ProTour outfit Team Saxo Bank Sungard...

.

In an interview broadcast in September 2007, president of the UCI Pat McQuaid referring to the Tour events, called for the then-current two-year ban for first-time doping offenders to be increased to a life ban in an effort to deter doping activity. The statement marked a shift in policy as the president had previously (during the Tour) expressed a belief that a two-year ban was sufficient.

On February 13, 2008, the ASO announced that the Astana team, despite completely changing its ownership, management, and rider roster since the 2007 scandals, would be barred from the 2008 Tour
2008 Tour de France
The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th Tour de France. The event took place from 5–27 July 2008. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regular final destination, which was reached in the 21st stage...

 due to its involvement in the 2007 scandals and its links to Operación Puerto. The move meant that neither Contador, the 2007 winner, nor third-place Levi Leipheimer
Levi Leipheimer
Levi Leipheimer is an American professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . His major results are winning the 2007–2009 editions of the Tour of California, the 2006 Dauphiné Libéré and the 2005 Deutschland Tour, coming in second in the 2008 Vuelta a España, third in the 2001 Vuelta a...

, both of whom signed with the revamped Astana setup, were able to compete in the 2008 tour.
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