The 2000 Tour de France was the 87th Tour de France, and took place from 1-23 July 2000. It has no overall winner after American cyclist Lance Armstrong was disqualified. In August 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced that they had disqualified Armstrong from all his results since 1998, including his victory in the 2000 Tour de France; the Union Cycliste Internationale has confirmed this verdict.
The Tour started with an individual time trial in Futuroscope (not an official prologue because it was longer than 8 km) and ended, traditionally, in Paris. The distance travelled was 3663 km (counter-clockwise around France). The Tour passed through Switzerland and Germany.
Before the race started, there were several favourites: Lance Armstrong, after his 1999 Tour de France victory; Jan Ullrich, having won the 1997 Tour de France, finishing second in the 1996 and 1998 tours, and not entering the 1999 Tour due to an injury; and 1998 Tour winner Marco Pantani. Richard Virenque finished 8th place in the 1999 Tour despite bad preparation, and for the 2000 edition he was considered an important rider. Fernando Escartín, Bobby Julich, Alexander Vinokourov and Alex Zülle were also considered contenders.
Read more about 2000 Tour De France: Differences From The 1999 Tour De France, Participants, Race Details, Stages, Results
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