The 2007 Tour de France the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 to 29 July. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain. It was won by Spanish rider Alberto Contador. The Tour was marked by doping controversies, with three riders and two teams withdrawn during the race following positive doping tests, including pre-race favourite Alexander Vinokourov and his Astana team. Following Stage 16, the leader of the general classification, Michael Rasmussen, was removed from the Tour by his Rabobank team, who accused him of lying about the reasons for missing several drug tests earlier in the year. The points classification, indicated by the green jersey, was won for the first time by Tom Boonen, who had failed to complete the previous two Tours after leading the points classification at times during each. The mountains classification, indicated by the polkadot jersey, was won by Mauricio Soler in his first Tour appearance. The general classification, indicated by the yellow jersey, was closely contested until the final time trial on stage 19. The top three riders, 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. Teams A total of 21 teams were invited to the 2007 Tour de France. Each team sent a total of nine riders to participate in the Tour, which brought the starting total of the peloton to 189 riders. The presentation of the teams – where each team's roster are introduced in front of the media and local dignitaries – took place at Trafalgar Square in London, the day before the opening prologue held in the city. The teams entering the race were: UCI ProTour teams Invited teams Pre-race favourites After the retirement of seven-time winner Lance Armstrong and with Ivan Basso and Floyd Landis not entering the Tour, the bookmakers' favourite to