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Now that the champagne has lost its fizz and the podium girls are back to their day jobs, the cycling world now waits with bated breath until that last anti-doping control winds through the labyrinth of syringes, gyroscopes, laser prisms and other weapons in the arsenal at the labs. Until the final sample comes back clean, no one can afford to breathe easy. Anyone who loves the Tour is desperate to avoid that final-hour “worst-case scenario” that could once again send cycling to its knees.

Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans pulled out of the one day criterium held in Flanders on Tuesday with a reported injured knee. According to organizer Denis Bolle the Australian cyclist sustained the problem at a party put on by his team Silence Lotto in a Parisian cafe on Sunday night to celebrate the end of the Tour. "It shows a flagrant lack of respect," said Bolle, adding he had only been told of Evans' absence "a few hours before the criterium."

It's been a great summer for bike racing. Now that the Tour is over, let's see what our readers have been up to. As always, keep the photos coming - click here to submit your own!

Tubes, tubulars or NoTubes?
Dear Lennard,
I'm currently running Campy 10-speed and am interested in running Hutchinson Tubeless Tires. It appears that the only officially approved system is the Shimano Dura-Ace wheelset, which is obviously not an option for me. My question is will a wheelset with rims that do not have pierced spoke holes on the interior (like the Mavic Ksyrium SL, Campy Shamal Ultra or Fulcrum Racing Zero) suffice and is there anything special that has to be done to make them work?
Phil

Anticipation! Tour de Ephrata Criterium - Crash at the Cat 3 finish line has a worried rider holding on for a potential pile-up.

My Bike World

Lead us not into temptation...Yarmouth Clam Festival Bike Race, July 20th 2008

Killer up-hill sprint finish

Nelsonville Star Brick Criterium

The big bucks are in Las Vegas for the 2008 mountain bike race year. At the Mountain’s Edge Cactus Cup, September 19–21, everyone has a chance to walk away a winner, with a total prize purse of $25,000 up for grabs. Also, in an unprecedented move in mountain bike racing, a percentage of registration fees payback pool to all male and female categories, which include Pro, Semi-Pro (men’s class only, no women’s class available), Expert, Sport and Beginner.

World women's road champion Marta Bastianelli has tested positive for a banned stimulant in a test conducted by the International Cycling Union (UCI), Italian news agency Ansa reported on Monday. Bastianelli tested positive for the stimulant in a control run by the International Cycling Union (UCI) during the Under-23 World Championships at Verbania on July 5, the competition at which she qualified for next month's Olympic Games in Beijing.

Carlos Sastre's triumph in the Tour de France over the weekend has capped a "magical" year for Spanish sports, Spanish media said Monday just two weeks before the Olympic Games get underway. "Sastre's triumph in the Tour marks the end of the two most fruitful months in Spanish football," the daily newspaper El Mundo wrote with photographs of the cyclist on the Champs Elysees after his win on Sunday. "Sastre conquers Paris in a magical year for Spanish sports," wrote rival daily El Pais.

Increased suspense, a boom in television ratings and happy sponsors left Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme in a buoyant mood two days prior to the end of this year's race. But with the ever-present threat of cheats lingering, the Frenchman knows it is far too early to talk of a definitive turnaround for the sport. After years of controversy the reputation of the race was tarnished by a minority of drugs cheats. But compared to recent scandals, this year's Tour got off comparatively lightly.

PRESS RELEASE Date: 28 juillet / July 2008 Statement from Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) The UCI would like to comment on a recent BBC report regarding the UCI and the Japanese organisers of keirin racing. UCI looked into this matter when questions were first raised by the BBC in early June. A thorough examination of our records and interviews with those involved has turned up no evidence that this was anything other than a straightforward, completely proper arrangement to promote track cycling.

Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans (Silence-Lott) dismissed as “unfounded rumor” speculation he has suffered a knee injury that could threaten his participation in next month’s Olympic Games in Beijing. Evans, 31, finished second in Tour de France for the second straight year and on Sunday night joined his Silence Lotto team mates for the traditional post-Tour dinner in Paris. Evans said he did slip on a wet floor but it was no more than that.

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has been put under the spotlight by a report that claims the world cycling body was paid to help get track cycling's keirin event on the Olympic program in 1996. The BBC reported on its Web site that it possesses documents which "reveal a series of substantial payments to the UCI, which began just two months after the keirin was accepted into the Olympics in December 1996.” The report, which was denied by a top Japanese official, claims that $3 million was "paid by organizers of a Japanese cycling event to the UCI — the world cycling body.”

Denmark's cross-country mountain bike champion Peter Riis Andersen, who was to compete in the Beijing Olympics, has failed a drugs test, the Danish sporting federation DIF said on Monday. Andersen, 28, one of 84 Danish athletes selected to take part in the Games, tested positive for the banned blood booster EPO (erythroipoietin). The DIF have expelled him from the Olympic squad. Andersen, who rides for the German Team ALB-GOLD, won the Danish championships on July 20 and had been hoping for a top 10 finish in the Olympics, which open on August 8.

For Australia's Cadel Evans, the Olympic road race in Beijing is already too far on the horizon. For the immediate future, the 31-year-old wants to concentrate on winding down at the one-day criteriums which follow the end of the Tour de France — and then put his bike to rest. Evans' overriding feeling was one of "relief" on Sunday after he finished his fourth Tour campaign with an impressive fourth top ten finish. Yet his second consecutive runner-up spot, a year on from losing the yellow jersey by 23 seconds to Spaniard Alberto Contador, must have hurt.

With a deafening crowd of Quebecers cheering and waving plastic hand clappers in her honor, Marie-Héléne Prémont stepped off her Rocky Mountain hardtail and raised the rig in victory at Mont-Ste-Anne resort. The 31-year-old, who hails from nearby Chateau-Richter, had just taken her third World Cup title at Mont-Ste-Anne in four years.[nid:81032] “It is amazing, always an amazing feeling to win here,” Prémont said, wiping mud from her face.