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 of the season, the 2007 Vuelta a España (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 announced his resignation from the team as a consequence of the events.
Both Michael Rasmussen and Alberto Contador were excluded from the Hamburg 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 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.
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 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, both of whom signed with the revamped Astana setup, were able to compete in the 2008 tour.
Read more about this topic: Doping At The 2007 Tour De France
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