The seventeenth stage over 149 km has been neutralized after slow-down protest actions of the riders. This means that no results have been registered for this stage. It has taken the cyclists approximately six hours to reach the finish today.
The stage was interrupted two times because the participants refused to ride. They protested against the actions of the French police. Yesterday night the Dutch team TVM was raided by the police. The cyclists were taken into custody for several hours and they were forced to give blood, urine and hair samples. The French police is investigating allegations of usage of performance-enhancing drugs by the team.
The spokesman of the peloton, Bjarne Riis, has announced that all cyclists will leave the race when the French police continues the raids on the cycling teams. Today three teams have abandoned the race in protest: ONCE, Banesto and Riso Scotti. This meant that seventeen cyclists left the Tour. The most important of these was Frenchman Laurent Jalabert (member of 628 game teams).