General Classification in The Tour de France - Scandal in Yellow

Scandal in Yellow

In 1978 the Belgian rider Michel Pollentier became race leader after attacking on the Alpe d'Huez. He was disqualified the same day after trying to cheat a drugs test.

In 1988, Pedro Delgado of Spain won the Tour despite a drugs test which showed he had taken a drug which could be used to hide the use of steroids. News of the test was leaked to the press by the former organiser of the Tour, Jacques Goddet. Delgado was allowed to continue because the drug, probenecid, was not banned by the Union Cycliste Internationale.

The 1996 winner, Bjarne Riis of Denmark said in 2007 that he had used drugs during the race. He was asked to stay away from that year's Tour. Riis, as directeur sportif of the Danish Team CSC (now called Team Saxo Bank), has implemented a stringent drug-testing regime for the team's riders, and has become an important voice against doping in the sport.

The 2006 winner, Floyd Landis was disqualified more than a year after the race. After he failed a doping control after his stunning Stage 17 victory, an arbitration panel declared him guilty of doping in September 2007, after which the official title for the 2006 Tour passed to Óscar Pereiro. Landis appealed his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport but lost this appeal at the end of June 2008 allowing Oscar Pereiro to start the 2008 edition of Le Tour de France as the unqualified 2006 Tour champion.

In 2007, the Danish rider Michael Rasmussen was withdrawn from the race by his team after complaints that he had not made himself available for drugs tests earlier in the year. Rasmussen said he had been in Mexico but there were reports that he had been seen training in Italy.

Maurice Garin won the Tour de France before yellow jerseys were awarded but in 1904 he was disqualified as winner after complaints that he and other riders had cheated. The allegations disappeared along with the Tour de France's other archives when they were taken south in 1940 to avoid the German invasion. But a man who as a small boy knew Garin recalled that the old man had admitted catching a train part of the way.

In 2012, Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles by UCI, following a report by the United States Anti-Doping Agency revealing that Armstrong had systematically used performance-enhancing drugs for much of his career, including all seven Tour victories.