Following Stage 16, the leader of the general classification, Michael Rasmussen, was removed from the Tour by his Rabobank team, who accused him of lying about the reasons for missing several drug tests earlier in the year.

The mountains classification, indicated by the polkadot jersey, was won by Mauricio Soler in his first Tour appearance.

The general classification, indicated by the yellow jersey, was closely contested until the final time trial on stage 19.

The routes for the Prologue in London and the first full stage through Kent, finishing in Canterbury, were announced on 9 February 2006 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre.

[7] The highest point of elevation in the race was 2,770 m (9,090 ft) at the summit of the Col de l'Iseran mountain pass on stage 9.

[8][9] The first scandal arrived when it was made public on 18 July that rider Patrik Sinkewitz from the T-Mobile Team had tested positive one month before the Tour started.

The scandal was big enough to prompt German TV broadcasters ZDF and ARD to drop their coverage.

At the start of the 16th stage on 25 July, some teams made a protest against the laxness of the official attitude to doping in the race.

Spanish cyclist Iban Mayo tested positive for EPO on the second rest day of the Tour, on 24 July.

[17] French prosecutors wanted to start a legal case against Vinokourov, Mayo and Moreni, and requested the UCI to hand over the doping samples.

The bike struck the dog on its backside, which buckled the front wheel and threw Burghardt over the handlebars onto the road.

Casar was able to rejoin the break with the help of Axel Merckx despite receiving road rash on his right buttock, while Willems returned to the peloton.

The cyclist with the most points led the classification, and wore a white jersey with red polka dots.