2007 Tour de France Doping Scandals
The 2007 Tour de France will be remembered, amongst other things, as riddled with doping scandals. The first began during stage 8, where it was announced Patrik Sinkewitz tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone at a June 8, 2007 pre-Tour training camp.
After stage 15, and what seemed a miraculous comeback by Vinokourov during stage 13's time trial, which he won, after a very nasty fall, it was announced Vinokourov had tested positive for an illegal blood transfusion. The entire Astana team withdrew from the race.

Astana leave in disgrace
After finishing stage 16 it emerged that Italian cyclist Cristian Moreni had tested positive for testosterone after Stage 11. He was immediately pulled out of the race by his team, Cofidis, who then voluntarily retired the rest of their riders from the Tour.
But then, hours later, the Tour was hit by the biggest shock for 2007. Yellow jersey wearer, Michael Rasmussen, having won stage 16, was withdrawn from the Tour after his team, Rabobank, decided Rasmussen had violated the team's internal rules. The Danish rider had given incorrect information to Rabobank's sports director about his whereabouts before the Tour.
The final positive test was that of Iban Mayo, who tested positive for EPO during the second rest day, but this only came back positive after the Tour's conclusion.
The Tour was over, but the doping scandals had rocked the cycling world. Again.
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Operación Puerto
In May 2006, Spanish police participated in a series of raids in an attempt to undercover doping practices conducted by Dr Eufemiano Fuentes. He was arrested along with five others, including the Liberty Seguros-Würth director sportif. In one residence, they uncovered a thousand doses of anabolic steroids, and when a list was found of riders being "treated" by him, it became obvious this was a major doping scandal.
The major riders to have been found as his clients so far include Ivan Basso (who was only suspended in 2007), Jörg Jaksche, and Jan Ullrich.
However, huge questions and uncertainities remain over the scandal, as only a fraction of the 200 athletes found on the list have been named, and most have been acquitted. The only athletes to have been named are 34 cyclists. Dr Fuentes has publicly stated that not only cyclists were his clients, but the Spanish authorities appear hesitant to act
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