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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. During the competition, two teams were asked to withdraw due to positive tests of at least one member. The events generated criticism and a general distrustful attitude toward the sport of professional cycling from media and public opinion. The doping allegations also resulted in several team sponsors threatening to retire their support if events advanced further. Some media such as 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. After the end of the Tour, ''The Times'' of London ranked it 4th in its list of the top 50 sporting scandals. ==Background== Since the introduction of doping tests in 1964, many cyclists were caught in the Tour de France. In recent years, 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis and points classification winner Erik Zabel, along with most of their Team Telekom team-mates, confessed to using erythropoietin (EPO).〔(BBC Sports News, Zabel admits to doping at Telekom )〕 In 1997, former points classification winner Djamolidine Abdoujaparov was disqualified from the Tour de France for doping use.〔(Cycling News, July 1997, Uzbekistan's Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, expelled from the Tour de France for doping )〕 In 1998, the Festina affair had several main contenders removed from the race. In the next years, several riders were removed from the Tour de France for doping (see List of doping cases in cycling). 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. After the completion of the 2006 Tour, testing of the winner Floyd Landis revealed an elevated testosterone to epitestosterone ratio on a sample taken following Stage 17 of the race, and at the time of the 2007 Tour prologue, the results of an independent arbitration hearing were still pending, and Landis was prevented from defending the title, and stripped of his 2006 Tour title in September 2007. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Doping at the 2007 Tour de France」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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