Spaniard Alberto Contador officially took the overall lead of the Tour de France after Thursday's 17th stage, which started without previous yellow jersey holder Michael Rasmussen and the Cofidis team.
Rasmussen was sacked by his Rabobank team, who said he had lied about his training whereabouts, and was not at the start of the stage.
In line with race regulations, no one wore the yellow jersey during the 188.5-km stage won by Italian Daniele Bennati.
Contador, the Paris-Nice winner, finished in the bunch and has a lead of one minute and 53 seconds over Australian Cadel Evans, who is unlikely to close the gap in Saturday's decisive time trial from Cognac to Angouleme.
‘I am happy. I feel good, there are three days remaining. I would have preferred to take the yellow jersey in yesterday's stage but there are particular circumstances,’ Discovery Rider Contador said.
Asked his opinion on Rasmussen being sacked, the 24-year-old said: ‘I don't know exactly what happened.’
