Alberto Contador won his third Tour title to place him firmly amongst a list of great riders, and cements himself as the best stage racer of this current generation, but he was pushed all the way. Andy Schleck finished in 2nd place for the second year in succession, but only missing out by a mere 36� by the time the race arrived in Paris. Dennis Menchov rounded out the podium following a quiet but deadly race.

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However while the race may not have been the success promised to the Brits, it certainly delivered for the French! For the first time in a good few years the locals really had something to cheer about from start to finish across July. It took a couple of days for them to get going, but onces that initial success was found the Frenchmen lit the race up, providing nearly endless sparks.

Jerome Pineau grabbed the King of the Mountains jersey on the bumps into Spa, but Chavanel stole much of the show with a late attack to claim victory, and the Yellow Jersey, as the race stuttered behind.

Following that initial showing things settled down over the cobbles and flat stages, before Chavanel again took charge. On the way up to the finish at Station de Rousses Sylvain rode himself clear to take a comfortable second stage win, and a second Yellow Jersey. Meanwhile Pineau was increasing his King of the Mountains lead.

Two stages later on the race over the Madeleine Sandy Casar outsprinted his breakaway companions in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to claim France’s third stage win of the race. Next up on Bastille Day Pineau reclaimed his King of the Mountains jersey with several Frenchmen in the Top 10 again.

Only when the race hit the Pyrenees did the French come back to the front. On the anniversary of the high mountains entering the Tour, Christophe Riblon took a brilliant win up to Ax-3-Domaines. The next day Tommy Voeckler won solo down into Bagneres-de-Luchon. The Hattrick was completed by Pierrick Fedrigo in a break sprint to Pau, just ahead of Sandy Casar.

That made for 6 French victories across the race, a terrific haul unseen in a number of years. This was topped off by a King of the Mountains duel between Jerome Pineau and Anthony Charteau, with the latter coming away with the glory. Sylvain Chavanel’s early exploits were not forgetten as he claimed the Combativity award.

This sudden increase in French glory caught the attention of many. With a few of their teams in financial struggles rumours have surface that a number of companies are interested in entering into the sport. The names include: Europcar, Carrefour, France Telecom and Le Coq Sportif. Only time will tell if this was a one off performance though…

Yesterday the UCI announced to the world that three time Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, had tested positive for Clenbuterol on the second rest day, July 21st, of this years edition of the Tour de France.

Alberto Contador responded at a press conference by claiming that the substance must have entered his system by eating contaminated beef, which was brought to him from Spain by a close friend.

The investigation is only just beginning but already there is wild debate across the sport, with opinion firmly split at this stage of proceedings. Contador does have a history of links with doping cases. In 2006 his Astana-Wurth team was banned from participating in that years Tour de France, because a number of the riders, including himself, were under investigation as part of Operaction Puerto. In 2007 his current Astana team withdrew from the Tour after Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for a blood transfusion. Most recently there was a lot of speculation after Stage 15 to Verbier, of the 2009 Tour. This is reported as the Tour's fastest ever climb, and people started asking serious questions about Alberto's practices.

It is still too early to say what will happen with this most recent case, but if it is proved that he had Celbuterol in his system then a minimum 1 year ban is to be expected. This will be a long process, and history is not on Alberto's side.

This Giro was talked up as being the toughest race ever, and it certainly was! Long days, big transfers and enormous mountains all played their part over the three weeks of racing.

Michele Scarponi came through in the final week of the race to take a well deserved victory, and also winning the Points jersey in the process. The men he beat were Vincenzo Nibali in second, and John Gadret in third.

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But the big surprise of the race surely was the man in third place, John Gadret. He was certainly not considered by many before the race as real contender, and through the first week he was almost invisible. Only on Stage 9 to the top of Mt. Etna did he first appear, and then only in 9th place. But on Stage 11 to Castelfidardo John put in a fantastic finish to win the stage! He then finished third up the Grossglockner and 6th on the Zoncolan. Another top 5 on Stage 15 moved him into 4th on the GC. Another strong couple of finishes in the final week confirmed John as thrid on the GC!

What this has done is prove that the French can perform outside of Le Tour. Following on from last years stellar Tour, French cycling's revolution is in full flow and is starting to affect their bordering nations. Vive la Revolution!