Moreau was expected to support his new teammate
Francisco "Paco" Mancebo at the
2006 Tour de France who had finished the
2005 Tour de France in fourth place. In the
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Moreau finished second on the general classification behind Leipheimer and won the king of the mountains competition. When the Operation Puerto doping scandal was revealed the day before the Tour began, Mancebo was banned from competing in the
Tour and Moreau became the leader for the general classification. After teammate
Cyril Dessel took the yellow jersey on stage 11, Moreau worked for Dessel to try to preserve Dessel's high placing. On the 19th stage Moreau attacked on the climb to bring himself further up the classification and he finished the
2006 Tour de France in the 8th place behind Dessel (Moreau was later moved up to 7th place after the disqualification of Floyd Landis). In the latter part of his career he was considered a 'clean' rider, and told reporters in 2007 that it had a big impact on him as a racer. "For my part, I paid for what I did," he said. "All I know is that I came out of it stronger. It transformed my life." In the
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Moreau demonstrated great form and
panache. In the second stage with 40 km to go, he attacked with several others. With 7 km to go Moreau was driving the pace with Spaniard José Antonio Redondo. At the end of the stage, Redondo did not contest the sprint as he had not been working in the break, Moreau took the stage and the leader's jersey. On the following stage 3
Individual time trial, Moreau finished some way back and lost over around 3 minutes. But on the stage to the legendary
Mont Ventoux, Moreau attacked on the ascent and won the stage with over a minute on the second-place finisher and over two minutes on his rivals for the general classification. He then lay in second overall 14 seconds behind the yellow jersey which he took back on stage six to win the race. Two weeks later, he carried that same form to win the French national cycling championships. Despite being a favourite for the
Individual time trial championships, Moreau finished way far back, but his form showed itself in the National cycling championships road race, in which he attacked his two breakaway companions with 40 km to the finish. He built up a great lead and won the championships with over two minutes over the second and third-place finishers. At 36 years of age, he won his first French champion title and pulled on the tricolour jersey. Moreau started the
2007 Tour de France in good form and was in the top ten of the
general classification after the first mountain stages of the Alps. However, after a crash in the fifteenth stage, Moreau fell back in the general classification and rode one of the Pyrenean stages in the
gruppetto, which is the part of the peloton for the riders who wish only to make the time limit imposed on a mountain stage to remain in the race. In September 2007, Moreau, citing financial reasons, announced that he was leaving
AG2R Prévoyance and was signing a one-year contract with
Agritubel for the 2008 season. In the
2008 Tour de France Moreau quit the race during the 7th Stage. On 17 July, during the
2009 Tour de France, Moreau signed with the team for 2010, after previously having said he would retire following the 2009 season. ==Career achievements==