Despite the controversial doping scandals which marred the 2006 tour, the 93rd edition was the closest three-way finish in the race's history.
The winner was of course Floyd Landis, who later failed a drugs test, but his triumph still stands while he appeals against the verdict.
However if the American is official stripped of his title by the International Cycling Union then Oscar Pereiro of Spain will go down as the 2006 champion.
The race itself was a thriller which went right down to the wire and for long periods it appeared as if Pereiro would hold on to pole position ahead of Landis.
His breakaway second-place finish in stage 13 gave him an almost 30-minute advantage on most of his rivals and thrust him into the yellow jersey for the first time.
Landis did fight back over the next few days but appeared to throw all this hard work away when losing eight minutes in stage 16 and few predicted he'd go on to mount a serious challenge from there.
However, by the end of the next stage in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, which was hailed as one of the most epic days of cycling ever seen, he trailed Pereiro by just 30 seconds, which he managed to make up over the final three stages before claiming an overall victory of just under one minute.
Pereiro held on for second place, but only around half a minute ahead of Andreas Kl¶den in third.
