The Tour is over but not the scandals: it was announced today that Iban Mayo's rest day test came back positive for EPO -- not exactly what the Tour needed at this point. As ever, cycling's efforts to catch the cheaters seems to be working, to some extent at least, but the sport's reputation keeps taking a hammering.
As things stand, Mayo's results all still stand, but he loses 25 points in the Pool for his positive. We'll have to see if they remove his stage results, or the results of Vinokourov, for that matter. As I said before the Tour started, we will base the final, official results on the Tour website one week to the minute after the finish of the final stage. That will be 11:53 a.m. EST next Sunday, so no prizes will be distributed this week.
Anyway, enough rambling: everyone wants to know how the Tour Pool played out. With Mayo's positive affecting a lot of teams, there was a shuffle at the finish and an unexpected, last-minute surge for victory from ... drum roll ... Alex Lai, with 806 points.
Alex improves on her previous best placing of seventh in 2005 and now joins an illustrious list of previous winners: Peter Metuzals (2001 and 2002), Stephano DiCilclismo (2003), Sheri Jay (2004), Gunter Hauschildt (2005) and Chris Holzauer (2006).
In so doing, Alex flew past Paul Skafel (note corrected spelling) as if he were at a standstill, crushing him by a whopping 28 points. The Hamburglars squeaked into a podium spot well back at 744 points. Meylina Kandoy was just five points further back, wtih Chris Holzauer another two points behind. Blaine Penny, Peter Metuzals, Sheri Jay (who scored the most GC points) and Orange Scheisse round out the top 10.
Competition was no less heated at the back of the Pool, as perennial backmarkers Off the Back just hung on to the lanterne rouge position by a single point over Kate Scallion.
A big thank you to all the hamsters and other helpers on the Tour Pool. Anyone interested in hoisting a pint to celebrate the end of this year's edition of the greatest bike race on Earth should meet me at Vineyard's in the Ottawa market tomorrow night (Tuesday) at 9:00 pm.
We will have any new developments, a list of prizes and reminders for those who may have forgotten to pay their entry for you later this week, so stay tuned!
-- KW
Final overall:
Team GC 1st 25 Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
Team GC 2nd 15 Caisse d'Épargne
Team GC 3rd 10 Team CSC
Team GC 4th 6 Rabobank
Team GC 5th 3 Euskaltel - Euskadi
Team GC 6th 1 Saunier Duval - Prodir
Team with all finishers 20 Quick Step - Innergetic
Team with all finishers 20 Gerolsteiner
Green 1st 20 BOONEN Tom
Green 2nd 10 HUNTER Robert
Green 3rd 5 ZABEL Erik
Green 4th 2 HUSHOVD Thor
Polka dots 1st 20 SOLER HERNANDEZ Juan Mauricio
Polka dots 2nd 10 CONTADOR Alberto
Polka dots 3rd 5 POPOVYCH Yaroslav
Polka dots 4th 2 EVANS Cadel
Young rider 1st 15 CONTADOR Alberto
Young rider 2nd 7 SOLER HERNANDEZ Juan Mauricio
Young rider 3rd 3 TXURRUKA Amets
Total number of finishers 20 141
Lanterne rouge 15 VANSEVENANT Wim
Rider winning 3 stages or more 10 none
Biggest time gap to second 20 RASMUSSEN Michael
1st 25 CONTADOR Alberto
2nd 24 EVANS Cadel
3rd 23 LEIPHEIMER Levi
4th 22 SASTRE Carlos
5th 21 ZUBELDIA Haimar
6th 20 VALVERDE Alejandro
7th 19 KIRCHEN Kim
8th 18 POPOVYCH Yaroslav
9th 17 ASTARLOZA Mikel
10th 16 PEREIRO SIO Oscar
11th 15 SOLER HERNANDEZ Juan Mauricio
12th 14 BOOGERD Michael
13th 13 ARROYO David
14th 12 KARPETS Vladimir
15th 11 HORNER Christopher
16th 10 MAYO Iban
17th 9 SCHLECK Frank
18th 8 BELTRAN Manuel
19th 7 VALJAVEC Tadej
20th 6 COBO ACEBO Juan Jose
21st 5 GARATE Juan Manuel
22nd 4 GUTIERREZ José Ivan
23rd 3 TXURRUKA Amets
24th 2 HINCAPIE George
25th 1 VANDEVELDE Christian
Points in Final GC
Rank Name Score
1 Sheri Jay 180
2 Alex Lai 172
3 Mike Larochelle 154
4 Bryan Gormley 152
5 FEV 150
6 Blaine Penny 134
7 Liisa Bjerkelund 131
8 Henry Mai 128
9 Earl Wexler 127
10 Paul Scafel 126
11 Orange Scheisse 125
11 Matthew Ellis 125
13 Devil's Island CC 123
13 Ben Sporer 123
15 Chris Holzauer 120
15 Adrian Das 120
15 Paul Gagnon 120
18 Meylina Kandoy 118
18 Team Damdom 118
20 Derrick St John 117
21 Ed Makarchuk 116
21 Vinnie 116
21 Tyler Lawler 116
24 Christopher Holloway/Katherine Murray 114
24 John Fee 114
26 Cynthia Phelan 113
26 Martha Guy 113
28 Tom Nightingale 112
29 David Markin 111
30 Sebastien Robillard-Cardinal 109
30 Mhairi Gilmore 109
32 Adam E 104
32 Gord's Wife 104
34 Ian Dalling 103
35 The Hamburglars 102
35 Peter Metuzals 102
37 Jamie Bryan 101
37 Oro Rocks 101
37 Viva Espania 101
40 Rob Grondin 100
41 Natasha Elliot 97
42 Nat Faulkner 95
42 Luise Sander 95
42 Chris White 95
45 Stefan Sander 93
45 Julie Jay 93
45 Barnet Cycling Club 93
48 Rob Kerr 92
49 Paul O'Bleines 91
50 Mike & Marnie 89
50 The Bat Returns 89
52 Jeffrey Furry 88
52 JBoys 88
52 Dick und Doof 88
55 Graham Chafe 87
55 Michael DeKelver 87
57 Bill Hurley 86
57 Julie Deschenes-Furry 86
59 Les Boyz 84
60 Wilby McNight 83
61 Ian Dewar 82
62 Duane Smith 80
62 Deb Hine 80
64 Dopeless Bloodhounds 79
65 Shaw 75
66 Jefferb 72
67 Team Alpe D'Huez 71
67 Annie Letourneau 71
69 Remi Berube 70
70 Helena DeVeer 69
70 Superfan 69
72 Top Chillin 68
72 VillaEva 68
74 Shawn Clarke 67
74 Claire McAneney 67
74 Kevin Nelson 67
77 Grimpeur George 63
77 Hujine 63
79 Donelli 62
79 Team of Some Young Guys 62
81 Bill Richardson 61
82 Here We Go Again 59
83 Stefano DiCiclismo 57
84 Paul McAneney 54
85 Leslie & Reed Archer 53
86 Gordon Dalling 49
87 Catherine & Richard 48
88 Markus Chiang 46
89 Team 18 Wheeler 45
90 La Bambina 41
91 The Sensational S's 36
92 Paul Havey 29
93 Team Off the Back 26
94 Nadzilla 24
95 Noddy 23
96 Those Wacky Stage Guys-Kris Westwood 22
97 Kiwi Mike 14
98 Kate Scallion 6
Overall at the end of the tour pool
1 Alex Lai 806
2 Paul Scafel 778
3 The Hamburglars 744
4 Meylina Kandoy 739
5 Chris Holzauer 737
6 Blaine Penny 724
7 Peter Metuzals 710
8 Sheri Jay 707
9 Orange Scheisse 704
10 Ian Dalling 687
11 Ed Makarchuk 686
12 Liisa Bjerkelund 673
13 David Markin 664
14 Sebastien Robillard-Cardinal 655
15 FEV 641
16 Adrian Das 639
17 Devil'sC Island CC 625
18 Team Damdom 607
19 Vinnie 601
20 Paul Gagnon 593
21 Derrick St John 592
22 Henry Mai 590
23 Matthew Ellis 588
24 Paul McAneney 584
25 Markus Chiang 582
26 Mhairi Gilmore 569
26 Adam E 569
28 Dopeless Bloodhounds 564
29 Christopher Holloway/Katherine Murray 562
30 Mike Larochelle 556
30 Nat Faulkner 556
32 Tom Nightingale 547
33 Jamie Bryan 543
34 Top Chillin 536
35 Here We Go Again 535
36 Tyler Lawler 529
37 Grimpeur George 524
38 Les Boyz 523
39 Cynthia Phelan 522
40 Luise Sander 515
41 Stefano DiCiclismo 511
42 Helena DeVeer 509
43 Ben Sporer 505
44 Bryan Gormley 504
45 Rob Kerr 501
46 Jeffrey Furry 495
47 John Fee 492
47 Bill Hurley 492
49 Duane Smith 490
50 Team Alpe D'Huez 488
51 Natasha Elliot 482
52 Rob Grondin 463
53 Ian Dewar 460
54 Mike & Marnie 459
55 Chris White 447
56 Oro Rocks 446
57 Deb Hine 443
58 Jefferb 442
59 Shawn Clarke 435
60 Donelli 433
61 Gord's Wife 421
62 Remi Berube 416
63 The Bat Returns 414
64 Stefan Sander 408
65 Claire McAneney 404
66 Martha Guy 401
67 JBoys 388
68 Those Wacky Stage Guys-Kris Westwood 386
69 Julie Jay 384
70 Superfan 363
71 Shaw 359
72 Wilby McNight 350
72 Annie Letourneau 350
72 Nadzilla 350
75 Earl Wexler 349
76 Viva Espania 345
77 Paul O'Bleines 334
78 Graham Chafe 325
79 VillaEva 315
80 Michael DeKelver 313
81 Julie Deschenes-Furry 312
82 Bill Richardson 309
83 Barnet Cycling Club 290
84 Hujine 284
85 Gordon Dalling 278
86 Dick und Doof 259
87 Kevin Nelson 252
88 Team of Some Young Guys 249
89 Team 18 Wheeler 211
90 Noddy 204
91 Catherine & Richard 201
92 Leslie & Reed Archer 194
93 Kiwi Mike 169
94 La Bambina 131
95 Paul Havey 105
96 The Sensational S's 44
97 Kate Scallion 9
98 Team Off the Back 8