Yellow jersey withheld

The 17th stage of the 2007 Tour de France started today with nobody wearing the yellow jersey.

Race leader Michael Rasmussen, the previous incumbent, was sacked by his Rabobank team, leaving the famous shirt empty for a day as the sport attempts to bounce back from the loss of the Dane and Bradley Wiggins’ Cofidis team.

Cofidis withdrew from the event yesterday following a positive doping test for Christian Moreni, while Rasmussen’s position became untenable when Rabobank found out he had lied about his whereabouts during training for the competition.

Meanwhile, pre-race favourite Alexandre Vinokourov failed a doping test on Tuesday leading to his team, Astana, pulling out.

Event director Christian Prudhomme said: “Rasmussen’s exit is the best thing that can happen to the Tour. The race will start without him and the yellow jersey will be given out after the stage.

“The race will go on for the rest of the riders and we believe it would be an insult to them to stop the race. We believe the general classification is much better now than it was.”

The Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador, who rides for Discovery, currently leads Australian Cadel Evans in the general classification by one minute, 57 seconds.