Tour tarnished by drugs scandal

Tour chaos: Who will remember the cycling?

Cycling's most famous race may have ended in Paris on Sunday but the French police investigations into widespread drug taking have rocked the sport to its foundations.

And while the this year's Tour will be remembered more for the drug scandal than Italian Marco Pantani's victory, at least the race made it to Paris, much to the relief of the organisers.

Although drug revelations are not new to cycling the reputation of the Tour and the sport as a whole has been badly damaged and root and branch reform is expected by cycling fans in the months ahead.

The Tour Director, Jean-Marie Leblanc, knows there is work to do before the next Tour de France.

"We are going to work in the weeks and months to come to reform this problem of doping, to wipe it out so it doesn't exist any more," Leblanc said.

Tour de Farce

First, a car belonging to the Festina cycling team was found to contain huge quantities of various performance-enhancing drugs.

Then the team director admitted that some of the cyclists were routinely given banned substances.

Festina were expelled from the race, and soon French police and sport officials were raiding other team headquarters to find more drugs.

Meanwhile, the riders complained that the night-time raids and regular blood tests were making it impossible to perform.

They said they were being treated like cattle, and staged a number of brief strikes.

In the end, race organisers were glad they at least managed to complete this year's tour, albeit with a depleted number of cyclists.

Six teams dropped out in protest and the pack was reduced to fewer than 100 riders from the original 189.

On Monday, a day after the Tour de France ended in Paris, members of the Dutch team TVM were being questioned by police about banned drugs found in their possession.

The TVM team had pulled out of the race on Friday in Switzerland, two days before the end, saying they had neither the physical nor the mental strength to continue.

In editorials, the French press called for the sport to clean up its act.

Le Figaro said sports fans were shocked by the scandals and now deserved frank answers to the questions they raised.

"To become a great event again, the Tour should be a race for truth. On the roads, of course, but also behind the scenes," it said.

France-Soir said that the tour must change profoundly.

The International Cycling Union and the Tour's organisers know that a challenging task lies ahead for them if they are to salvage the reputation of the sport.