The doping scandals

A look at major doping scandals involving the Tour de France since the Festina affair in 1998:

1998: Festina medical team member Willy Voet was arrested at the French border before the start of the Tour after customs officers seized banned substances, including the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO). Festina was kicked out of the race and its riders later admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs. Top rider Richard Virenque was banned for nine months, team director Bruno Roussel and Voet were fined and given suspended jail sentences.

2006: American Floyd Landis became the first Tour winner to fail a drug test during the race after testing positive for the male sex hormone testosterone. Landis was stripped of the title and given a two-year ban. Germany's 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich and Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso were among nine competitors withdrawn on the eve of the prologue after being implicated in a Spanish doping investigation, Operation Puerto. Ullrich, who retired from competition in 2007, admitted to blood-doping under the guidance of the Spanish doctor at the center of the Operation Puerto scandal. Basso admitted his involvement in the scandal to the Italian Olympic Committee in May 2007 and was banned for two years.