2006 Tour de France

2006 Tour de France

2006 UCI ProTour, race 17 of 27
Route of the 2006 Tour de France
Race details
Dates	1–23 July 2006
Stages	20 + prologue
Distance	3,657 km (2,272 mi)
Winning time	89h 40' 27"
Results
Winner  Floyd Landis Óscar Pereiro (ESP) (Caisse d'Epargne–Illes Balears)   Second  Andreas Klöden (GER) (T-Mobile Team)   Third  Carlos Sastre (ESP) (Team CSC) Points  Robbie McEwen (AUS) (Davitamon–Lotto) Mountains  Michael Rasmussen (DEN) (Rabobank) Youth  Damiano Cunego (ITA) (Lampre–Fondital) Combativity  David de la Fuente (ESP) (Saunier Duval–Prodir) Team T-Mobile Team
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The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between the 1st and the 23rd of July. It was won by Óscar Pereiro following the disqualification of Floyd Landis. Due to the United States Anti-Doping Agency announcing on August 24, 2012, that they had disqualified Lance Armstrong, a former teammate of Landis, from all of his results since August 1, 1998, including his seven Tour de France titles from 1999 to 2005, this is also the first Tour to have an overall winner since 1998. By terms of margin of victory the 2006 Tour was the 3rd closest of all time.

The Tour began with a prologue in Strasbourg, on the French-German border, and ended on Sunday 23 July in Paris. The distance of the course (run counterclockwise around France) was 3,657 km (2,272 mi). The race was the third fastest in average speed. Along the way, the cyclists passed through six different countries including France, The Netherlands (a stop at Valkenburg in Stage 3), Belgium (at Huy, Stages 3 and 4), Luxembourg (at Esch-sur-Alzette, Stages 2 and 3), Germany (though not stopping there, Stage 1) and Spain (Pla-de-Beret, Stage 11). The presentation of the course was made by the new director of Le Tour, Christian Prudhomme. For the first time since the 1999 edition, there was no team time trial.

The event, as with some of the Tours of the late 1990s, was marred by doping scandals. Prior to the tour, numerous riders – including the two favourites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso – were expelled from the Tour due to their link with the Operación Puerto doping case.

After the Tour, the apparent winner, Floyd Landis, was found to have failed a drug test after stage 17; Landis contested the result and demanded arbitration. On 20 September 2007, Landis was found guilty and suspended retroactive to 30 January 2007 and stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title making Óscar Pereiro the title holder.^[1] Landis appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport which upheld the ban.

Pereiro was also suspected of having taken a forbidden substance during this Tour after failing a drug test. However, his use of the substance in question, salbutamol, was approved by the UCI for medical reasons.^[2]

Of the six Americans to complete this Tour, four of them had their results voided. The results of Chris Horner and Christian Vande Velde remain official, although Vande Velde had previous results voided. American Sprinter Fred Rodriguez did not finish the Tour, but his results remain valid.