Doping at the 2007 Tour de France

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 reputational damage caused by the scandals.

In addition, several riders were not allowed to start the previous Tour, including Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso because of their involvement in the Operación Puerto doping case, a Spanish investigation against doctor Eufemiano Fuentes and a number of accomplices accused of administering prohibited doping products to approximately two hundred professional athletes, to enhance their performance.

Alessandro Petacchi, a sprint specialist, failed a test for salbutamol at Pinerolo on 23 May in the 2007 Giro d'Italia, the same day he claimed the third of his five-stage wins in the event.

As a result, Petacchi, an asthma sufferer, was suspended by Team Milram and forced to miss the Tour de France because of the charges.

[10] On May 25, Bjarne Riis admitted he had won the overall competition of the 1996 edition 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.

German cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz failed tests for elevated levels of testosterone at a June 8, 2007 pre-Tour training camp.

Vinokourov had returned a failed A test for an illegal blood transfusion from a compatible donor before the Stage 13 individual time trial on July 21, in which he placed first.

The Danish rider had given incorrect information to Rabobank's sports director about his whereabouts which followed on from earlier reports that he had missed previous out-of-competition doping control tests.

France Soir ran a mock death notice declaring the Tour had died "at age 104, after a long illness."

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.

The 2007 edition died on 24 July on the heights of Loudenvielle...Killed by Alexander Vinokourov, idolised by the media and cycling fans, but revealed to have the blood of another running in his veins on the finishing line.

"[23] Particularly strong reaction came from Jean-François Lamour, vice president of the World Anti-Doping Agency who called for the Tour de France to be banned entirely and for road cycling to be withdrawn from the Olympic Games[17] and former British Olympic Association chairman Sir Craig Reedie suggested that road cyclists might be required to hold an "anti-doping passport".

Fabian Cancellara, Cedric Vasseur and David Millar all stated publicly that they believed the consensus among riders in the peloton was that anti-doping measures were effective and the sport would continue to benefit from the harder line.

Accepting the failed test result, Sinkewitz stated that: "It was a big mistake and irresponsible toward my team, colleagues, the sponsor and the whole of cycling.

[25] Vinokourov rejected the failed test, blaming the anomaly on excessive blood flow in his thighs following a heavy collision earlier in the Tour.

[30] Mayo had previously failed tests for a high testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio during the 2007 Giro d'Italia,[31] but on that occasion UCI found that he had not breached any doping regulation.

Italian cycling journalist and former cyclist Davide Cassani told a Danish television channel that he had seen Rasmussen on June 13 and 14 in the Dolomites in Italy.

[34] When Rabobank team director Theo de Rooij confronted Rasmussen with this story, according to news reports he allegedly admitted the lie.

[12] Michael Rasmussen's withdrawal came immediately after his dramatic victory in Stage 16, defending multiple attacks from Alberto Contador on a gruelling mountain pass.

At the time he was holding the yellow jersey, leading the race by three minutes and ten seconds, and he appeared well on his way to winning the Tour.

[39] 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.

[40] Alberto Contador was not allowed to start in the 2006 Tour de France due to his possible involvement with the Operación Puerto doping case in which he had been referred to by key persons who were the subject of investigation.

[42] 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 and his role in Operación Puerto, without uncovering new evidence.

After the Tour, German doping expert Werner Franke, who had complete access to Puerto documents, accused him of having taken drugs in the past.

Contador was joined by Discovery Channel team manager Johan Bruyneel, Spanish sports minister Jaime Lissavetzky and members of his family.

[50] 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.

[53] 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.

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.