Tour de France Winner 2008: Carlos Sastre

Spaniard Carlos Sastre said he had fulfilled a childhood dream by winning the 95th Tour de France. The 33-year-old stayed among the pack during the final stage to win cycling's premier event by 58 seconds.

"It's a dream coming true - ever since I was little I've been thinking about this moment," said the CSC rider. For me, another fantastic race comes to a close, the blood, sweat and tears wiped for another year.

Cavendish out of Tour de France

A big pat on the back for making it this far and winning another stage - giving him a total of 4 stage wins.

The 23 year old struggled to cope with three mountain stages in the Pyrenees and missed out on a final sprint during Saturday's 14th stage, he lost touch with the peleton on the last stretch home. Hence Mark Cavendish has pulled out of this year's Tour de France.

Well done to a proper British Athlete and better luck next time, Mark!

Le Tour de France 2008

Yesterday Mark Cavendish, 23, won his third stage of the Tour de France (232 Kilometers in just 5hr 27min 52sec ending in Narbonne). There is talk of having a British Team next year which would be great.

Also, the Cobra, Riccardo Ricco, winner of the first stage this year, was the third rider to get tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and hence have his whole team (Saunier-Duval), disgraced and disqualified. So far Spaniards Moises Duenas Nevado (team Barloworld) and Manuel Beltran (team Liquigas) have already been sent packing.



It is, unfortunately, a fact of life that some athletes choose to take these kind of drugs despite the possible consequences to their chances of making it through the tour without being found out, despite their health and, of course, the future of their teams in whatever sport it is. Cycling is no different - if not worse.

So the real question is - How many riders really make the gruelling 3500km without a little something? All comments welcome.