Australia's Cadel Evans could become one of the big winners of the shock drug revelations which hit the tour overnight.
Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso were suspended by their respective teams after reports of them being on a list of 58 alleged blood dopers refused to go away.
Later in the day the entire Astana team was pulled out of the race by their management company after it emerged that five of their nine riders are also on the list of riders alleged to have used the blood doping services of a tainted former team doctor currently being investigated in Madrid.
Australian cyclist Allan Davis has been implicated in the ongoing doping affair in Spain.
Davis, who rides for the newly-named Astana team (formerly Liberty), is on a list of nine riders issued by the sport's ruling body the International Cycling Union.
In total, 13 riders have been thrown off the Tour, including Spaniards Francisco Mancebo, of AG2R, and T-Mobile's Oscar Sevilla.
None of last year's top five are now in the starting lineup, leaving the race to succeed seven-time winner Armstrong embarrassingly wide open.
Evans has emerged from being a pre-Tour darkhorse to a legitimate contender for the podium.
Australia's best overall Tour finish is Phil Anderson's fifths in 82 and 85. Evans was eighth last year on debut and has shown solid form this year in Europe.
The doping probe in Spain has yet to reach its conclusions, and more names could follow suit.
"It's a shock. I'm extremely disappointed, but we have to assume what has happened and react to it positively," said AG2R manager Vicent Lavenu, who was forced to suspend his team’s leader, Spaniard Mancebo.
Mancebo is now on his way home and possibly leaving professional cycling behind.
Armstrong settles newspaper dispute
Meanwhile Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong says he is "extremely happy" after settling a legal dispute with British newspaper the Sunday Times.
Armstrong, a seven-times Tour de France winner, won a preliminary ruling in his libel case with the newspaper that had claimed he used performance-enhancing drugs.
But following the High Court's decision, Armstrong and the Sunday Times issued a joint statement revealing they had settled the dispute out of court.