It's finally over: Daniele Bennati won the charge to the line on the Champs Elysees to end a Tour de France that was both a sporting triumph and a public relations nightmare. With one doping scandal after another leading to calls for drastic measures -- including removing cycling from the Olympics -- Alberto Contador's overall victory is hard to take seriously.
But the crowds were as thick as ever on the roadside, and maybe Contador does represent a new hope as cycling tries to emerge from its deep-rooted ethical problems. Everyone is probably holding their collective breaths in the hope that no new positive tests come to light in the coming days.
One small bright spot: the rumoured positive test of Mauricio Soler turned out to be just that -- a rumour.
The hamsters are busy spinning their wheels to get us the final results, and we won't have the final compilation until tomorrow. Meanwhile, we can give you the standings with the results from the final stage.
Peter Metuzals came through with the last-gasp stage win with a solid 60 points, ahead of Orange Scheisse with 57, who have come on strong on the last few stages, and Top Chillin in third with 48. It was a fairly high scoring stage, although 15 teams failed to score a point.
Paul Scafel continues to lead, but by just 10 points over the late-charging Hamburglars, and a further eight over Alex Lai. Meylina Kandoy and Chris Holzauer aren't out of reach, either. Everything will depend on how the final GC plays out.
Until tomorrow, when all will be revealed -- KW
Date: Dimanche 29 juillet
Stage: 20
Start/Finish: Marcoussis-Paris Champs-Élysées
Distance 146 km
1st 15 BENNATI Daniele
2nd 12 HUSHOVD Thor
3rd 10 ZABEL Erik
4th 8 HUNTER Robert
5th 6 BOONEN Tom
6th 5 CHAVANEL Sébastien
7th 4 CANCELLARA Fabian
8th 3 MILLAR David
9th 2 FÖRSTER Robert
10th 1 QUINZIATO Manuel
Mountains 2 STEEGMANS Gert
Young rider 1 KRAUSS Sven
Aggressive 1 BICHOT Freddy
Teams 3 Quick Step - Innergetic
Yellow 7 CONTADOR Alberto
Team 7 Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
Green 5 BOONEN Tom
Polka dots 5 SOLER HERNANDEZ Juan Mauricio
Young rider 5 CONTADOR Alberto
Stage results
Rank Name Score
1 Peter Metuzals 60
2 Orange Scheisse 57
3 Top Chillin 48
4 Ian Dalling 42
5 Dopeless Bloodhounds 40
6 The Hamburglars 39
6 The Bat Returns 39
8 Markus Chiang 38
8 Mhairi Gilmore 38
10 FEV 35
11 Those Wacky Stage Guys-Kris Westwood 34
12 Meylina Kandoy 33
12 David Markin 33
12 Paul Gagnon 33
15 Tyler Lawler 30
16 Derrick St John 28
17 Paul Scafel 27
17 Chris Holzauer 27
17 Stefano DiCiclismo 27
17 Helena DeVeer 27
17 JBoys 27
22 Vinnie 26
22 Donelli 26
24 Liisa Bjerkelund 24
24 Sheri Jay 24
24 Devil's Island CC 24
24 Team Damdom 24
24 Here We Go Again 24
24 Matthew Ellis 24
24 Henry Mai 24
24 Oro Rocks 24
32 Alex Lai 23
32 Blaine Penny 23
32 Ed Makarchuk 23
32 Sebastien Robillard-Cardinal 23
32 Adrian Das 23
32 Grimpeur George 23
32 Jamie Bryan 23
32 Luise Sander 23
32 John Fee 23
32 Jefferb 23
32 Deb Hine 23
32 Superfan 23
44 Julie Jay 20
45 Mike Larochelle 18
46 Natasha Elliot 15
46 Ben Sporer 15
46 Ian Dewar 15
49 Christopher Holloway/Katherine Murray 12
49 Tom Nightingale 12
49 Duane Smith 12
49 Cynthia Phelan 12
49 Jeffrey Furry 12
49 Bill Hurley 12
49 Mike & Marnie 12
49 Rob Grondin 12
49 Bryan Gormley 12
49 Remi Berube 12
49 Stefan Sander 12
49 Wilby McNight 12
49 Bill Richardson 12
49 VillaEva 12
49 Viva Espania 12
49 Paul O'Bleines 12
49 Julie Deschenes-Furry 12
49 Team of Some Young Guys 12
49 Leslie & Reed Archer 12
68 Paul McAneney 11
68 Adam E 11
68 Nat Faulkner 11
68 Shawn Clarke 11
68 Annie Letourneau 11
73 Les Boyz 10
73 Rob Kerr 10
73 Noddy 10
76 Team 18 Wheeler 8
77 Paul Havey 7
78 Team Alpe D'Huez 4
78 Shaw 4
80 Claire McAneney 3
81 The Sensational S's 2
82 Team Off the Back 1
83 Chris White 0
83 Nadzilla 0
83 Gord's Wife 0
83 Martha Guy 0
83 Graham Chafe 0
83 Gordon Dalling 0
83 Michael DeKelver 0
83 Earl Wexler 0
83 Hujine 0
83 Barnet Cycling Club 0
83 Kevin Nelson 0
83 Dick und Doof 0
83 Kiwi Mike 0
83 Catherine & Richard 0
83 La Bambina 0
83 Kate Scallion 0
Overall results after stage 20
Rank Name Score
1 Paul Scafel 652
2 The Hamburglars 642
3 Alex Lai 634
4 Meylina Kandoy 621
5 Chris Holzauer 617
6 Peter Metuzals 608
7 Blaine Penny 590
8 Ian Dalling 584
9 Orange Scheisse 579
10 Ed Makarchuk 570
11 David Markin 553
12 Sebastien Robillard-Cardinal 546
13 Liisa Bjerkelund 542
14 Markus Chiang 536
15 Paul McAneney 530
16 Sheri Jay 527
17 Adrian Das 519
18 Devil's Island CC 502
19 FEV 491
20 Team Damdom 489
21 Dopeless Bloodhounds 485
21 Vinnie 485
23 Here We Go Again 476
24 Derrick St John 475
25 Paul Gagnon 473
26 Top Chillin 468
27 Adam E 465
28 Matthew Ellis 463
29 Henry Mai 462
30 Grimpeur George 461
30 Nat Faulkner 461
32 Mhairi Gilmore 460
33 Stefano DiCiclismo 454
34 Christopher Holloway/Katherine Murray 448
35 Jamie Bryan 442
36 Helena DeVeer 440
37 Les Boyz 439
38 Tom Nightingale 435
39 Luise Sander 420
40 Team Alpe D'Huez 417
41 Tyler Lawler 413
42 Duane Smith 410
43 Cynthia Phelan 409
43 Rob Kerr 409
45 Jeffrey Furry 407
46 Bill Hurley 406
47 Mike Larochelle 402
48 Natasha Elliot 385
49 Ben Sporer 382
50 John Fee 378
50 Ian Dewar 378
52 Donelli 371
53 Jefferb 370
53 Mike & Marnie 370
55 Shawn Clarke 368
56 Those Wacky Stage Guys-Kris Westwood 364
57 Deb Hine 363
57 Rob Grondin 363
59 Bryan Gormley 352
59 Chris White 352
61 Remi Berube 346
62 Oro Rocks 345
63 Claire McAneney 337
64 Nadzilla 326
65 The Bat Returns 325
66 Gord's Wife 317
67 Stefan Sander 315
68 JBoys 300
69 Superfan 294
70 Julie Jay 291
71 Martha Guy 288
72 Shaw 284
73 Annie Letourneau 279
74 Wilby McNight 267
75 Bill Richardson 248
76 VillaEva 247
77 Viva Espania 244
78 Paul O'Bleines 243
79 Graham Chafe 238
80 Gordon Dalling 229
81 Julie Deschenes-Furry 226
81 Michael DeKelver 226
83 Earl Wexler 222
84 Hujine 221
85 Barnet Cycling Club 197
86 Team of Some Young Guys 187
87 Kevin Nelson 185
88 Noddy 181
89 Dick und Doof 171
90 Team 18 Wheeler 166
91 Kiwi Mike 155
92 Catherine & Richard 153
93 Leslie & Reed Archer 141
94 La Bambina 90
95 Paul Havey 76
96 The Sensational S's 8
97 Kate Scallion 3
98 Team Off the Back -18