After Stage 16, overall leader Michael Rasmussen was fired by his team, , for violating team rules after he told the team that he was in Mexico with his wife in June, then being sighted training in Italy by Italian journalist Davide Cassani. Rasmussen disputed this claim, maintaining that he was in Mexico. Thus, at the start of stage 17 there was no holder of the yellow jersey. Afterward the lead and the jersey were transferred to 's Alberto Contador. Rasmussen later in 2013 confessed to doping from 1998 to 2010, including at the 2007 Tour de France.