Doping At The 2007 Tour De France
The 2007 Tour de France was affected by a series of scandals and speculations related to doping. By the end of the Tour, two cyclists were dismissed for testing positive, the wearer of the yellow jersey 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. 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 and ZDF 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 of London ranked it 4th in its list of the top 50 sporting scandals.
Read more about Doping At The 2007 Tour De France: Background, Events Immediately Before The Tour, During The Tour, Reaction To Events During The Tour, Other Developments
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