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The men's podium

The women's podium

London provided a unique - and popular - setting for this year's Grand Départ

Police estimate that 2.1 million fans turned out for the ride to Canterbury

In splendid isolation for three weeks, sometimes journalists miss the big picture

Fans turned out throughout the Tour.

Van Avermaet takes the win

Troubles or no, some of us can't help but love the Tour

Bertagnolli exults after outsprinting his breakaway companion

The Clásica

Di Luca, only recently returned to competition after taking a break following his Giro d’Italia victory in May

Lopez, De Walle and Albasini

Garate and Bertagnolli have a go

Française des Jeux chases

Bertagnolli pops his cork

Xavier Florencio surprised a strong field to win in 2006.

Florencio dons the traditional

Eatough

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the world of competitive cycling by your friends at VeloNews.com.

Dear BobI live and bike in Texas. A few weeks ago friends in a cycling club were stopped and cited for failure to stop at a 4-way stop sign. Having ridden a few times with the group, I believe the officer to be correct, as the group rarely stopped at 4-way stop signs. However, a few cyclists were also cited for failure to carry their driver's license. I am a little confused as I seem to recall biking for 12 years or so before I qualified by age for a driver's license. I personally carry a RoadID strapped to my ankle in the event of an unfortunate incident. The officer insisted

Bettini will have the chance to defend his rainbow jersey in Stuttgart next month.

Contador says he would have preferred to win another way.

South African Ryan Cox died Tuesday weeks after doctors performed surgery to repair a constriction in his iliac artery, a problem common in cyclists. The 28-year-old Cox, who had reported numbness, weakness and other problems with his left leg earlier in the year, had been diagnosed with a problem similar to that experienced by CSC’s Stuart O’Grady in 2002. Cox, with financial assistance from Barloworld teammate Robbie Hunter, underwent surgery in early July. Cox’s coach Clint Curtis told Bicycling South Africa that the rider showed classic symptoms of an arterial constriction. "He

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Cox's win at Genting in 2005 sealed his overall victory at Langkawi that year.

Leipheimer made it to the podium in Paris

The computer is hard wired to the rest of the parts.

The integration of the battery is seamless.

A view of the battery’s connection on Stéphane Augé’s Time bike.

The front derailleur.

The rear derailleur.

A rear view.

Mayo finished 16th in this year's Tour de France

The T-Mobile cycling team has fired Patrik Sinkewitz, the rider who failed a drugs test in the run up to the Tour de France, after he decided not to have a second urine sample analyzed. The 26-year-old's decision means he accepts the test's result and concedes that he violated T-Mobile's Code of Conduct after he was found to have abnormal levels of testosterone following an out-of-competition test taken on June 8th by the German anti-doping agency (NADA). the 2004 Tour of Germany winner said he had been using widely-available gel Testogel - a replacement therapy for low

Officials with Kazakhstan’s cycling federation on Tuesday expressed staunch support for Alexander Vinokourov who was excluded from the Tour de France following a positive test for blood doping. "We are going to support the position that the results of the A and B samples were a direct result of the violent fall Alexander suffered during the fifth stage of the cycling race," said the executive director of the federation, Aleksandr Antychev. He also added that the federation would dispute, in the courts, the exclusion from the Tour of the entire Astana team, of which Vinokourov was team

Scheirlinckx’s World Star UL Team equipped with Campagnolo’s prototype electronic group.

The right shifter.

The left shifter, with a good view of the thumb button.

The system’s brain

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of our most recent contest. One image in particular that caught our attention was a submission by frequent contributor Felipe Borja, “Sharing the Road.” Felipe usually sends his images from South America without too much detail, which means we can only guess at place, time and other details, but it has us longing for a bit of time off in the southern hemisphere. Nice work Felipe! Please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work out the

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Oh my lord, the morning after the Tour is the best breakfast in the world. It’s better than Christmas, as Stuey says. I spoke with the man a few times over the course of the last two days as he coached me to make it through the last night. He is the teacher after all. Last night I hurt myself as I always do with friends and foes and now I am crawling my way back to Gerona on my knees. CSC had the usual party, which was fun but then Disco' went above and beyond by renting the roof of the Crillon. Awesome. I won't go into details but I had a good time. Thanks Alberto. I did miss my

Sharing the Road

A resurgent Mayo won the 19th stage of the Giro in June of this year.

ASO's Clerc congratulates Merckx on his final Tour.

Twenty-four-years-old, Contador wins both the white and yellow jerseys.

The moment most cyclists can only dream of.

Thirty-one seconds - The tightest 3-way finale' in Tour history.

One more honor: The Spanish flag over the winner's hotel

A celebration, a sigh of relief and the 2007 Tour de France has arrived in Paris. Just as he has been throughout the Tour de France, our man Casey Gibson was there.

Mr. Contador readies for another day at the office.

The Tour's four jerseys - along with the French national champion - ready for the start of the Tour's final stage

Is this Hincapie's final Tour in Disco' garb?

The peloton's 141 survivors head onto cycling's most hallowed stretch of road.

The folks from Oz had plenty to cheer about this year.

Bennati and Zabel share a post-sprint moment.

Well the Tour is more or less over and I am already thinking of canoe trips in Wisconsin. Buying bait and a case of old style at the local store. Today was the final time trial and it was actually interesting to watch. Levi rode an amazing race, averaging 53kph over 55.5 kilometers and with his ride and that of Cadel, the top three on GC are now all within half-a-minute of each other.

Bennati wins the finale

The podium

Boonen wins his first points jersey

The Knees break (has a painful sound to it, don't you agree?)

Welcome to Paris

Barloworld chasing

Contador toasting

Disco' on the podium

COURSE: The eight laps of the traditional finishing circuit around the Champs-Élysées is preceded by a 90km loop through the southern suburbs of the French capital. Let’s hope it’s not significant that the intermediate sprint after 74km is in the town of Châtenay-Malabry, where the infamous French anti-doping lab is located HISTORY: Every Tour has finished in the Paris area: at Ville d’Avray in the suburbs in 1903; at the now defunct Parc des Princes velodrome (1904-67); the Municipal Velodrome at Vincennes (1968-74); and, since 1975, on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Only three times in

Top Ten-Stage 20 (Marcoussis-Paris Champs-Élysées)1. Daniele Bennati (I), Lampre-Fondital, S.T.2. Thor Hushovd (N), Credit Agricole, S.T.3. Erik Zabel (G), Milram, S.T.4. Robert Hunter (Rsa), Barloworld, S.T.5. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, S.T.6. Sébastien Chavanel (F), Francaise Des Jeux, S.T.7. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), CSC, S.T.8. David Millar (Gb), Saunier Duval-Prodir, S.T.9. Robert Förster (G), Gerolsteiner, S.T.10. Manuel Quinziato (I), Liquigas, S.T. Full Results-Stage 20 (Marcoussis-Paris Champs-Élysées)1. Daniele Bennati (I), Lampre-Fondital, S.T.2. Thor Hushovd (N),

David Millar believes his return to cycling's top echelons after serving a career-threatening doping ban can serve as an example to the embattled sport of cycling. Millar, who announced Sunday that he is leaving Saunier Duval to join the U.S.-based Slipstream team, completed his second Tour de France Sunday since returning from a doping ban in June 2006 after admitting to using EPO. Gradually refinding his feet in the peloton, Millar has since emerged as one of the most outspoken riders against the doping which, as this year's race has shown, is far from gone.

Stage 20 - Marcoussis to Paris Champs-Élysées (146km)

Stage 20 - Marcoussis to Paris Champs-Élysées (146km)

The champion arrives in Paris

The champion

Contador guts it out

Leipheimer wins his first Tour stage and secures his place on the podium

Evans gave it his best, but had to settle for second on the day — and second in Paris

Karpets slots into third

Popo' nails fourth

Contador cranks out the ride of his life for fifth — and first in Paris