Regardless of other race results, the Winners of the Tour de France are heralded as being among the best riders in the world for that year.

Floyd Landis of the USA and Phonak C), Oscar Pereiro of Spain and Caisse d'Epargne (L) and Andreas Kloden of Germany and T-Mobile (R) stand on the podium after the final stage of the 93rd Tour de France, on July 23 2006 in Paris, France.
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