2007 Tour de France 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. A total of 21 teams were invited to
Doping at the Tour de France 50,000 French francs – was likely to restrict use. Only the richest or the most ambitious riders could afford that. And the rewards could be high: Bernard Thévenet won the 1975 and 1977 Tour de France editions by using cortisone. "I was doped with cortisone for three years and there were many like me", he said. The experience had ruined his health, he said. Spanish rider Luis Ocaña failed tests in his last participation in the Tour de France in 1977 which was called the Tour of Doping. Testing took time to adapt, but in 1978 Belgian rider Jean-Luc van