| 2007 UCI ProTour, race 17 of 26 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Route of the 2007 Tour de France | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | 7–29 July 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stages | 20 + Prologue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | 3,570 km (2,218 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning time | 91h 00' 26" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2007 Tour de France the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 to 29 July. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain. It was won by Spanish rider Alberto Contador.[1]
The Tour was marked by doping controversies, with three riders and two teams withdrawn during the race following positive doping tests, including pre-race favourite Alexander Vinokourov and his Astana team. 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 points classification, indicated by the green jersey, was won for the first time by Tom Boonen, who had failed to complete the previous two Tours after leading the points classification at times during each. 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 top three riders, Alberto Contador in the yellow jersey as the leader, Cadel Evans in second, and Levi Leipheimer in third, were separated by only 2:49, with both Evans and Leipheimer recognized as far superior time trialists to Contador. In the end, each rider held his place after the final time trial, but with considerably slimmer margins, as the Tour ended with the smallest-ever spread of only 31 seconds among the top three riders. Alberto Contador also won the young rider classification, indicated by the white jersey, as the best young (under age 25) rider.
- ^ "Contador wins tainted 2007 Tour". BBC News. 29 July 2007. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2012.