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Le Tour de France is over for 2008. Last night I watched the last 145 riders head into the Champs-elysees for the last stage and the sprint at the end. Cadel finished in the bunch, along with Carlos Sastre who had retained the yellow jersey after a disappointing time trial by Evans and a blistering effort by Sastre sealed the result for him. Cadel finished in second place just 1 minute and 5 seconds behind the leader.

Michael and I were cheering him on from the comfort of our home theatre, but the big screen and surround sound couldn't disguise the fact that the time splits were not small enough for Cadel to win. Sastre rode out of his skin to produce probably the best time trial of his life. He deserves the win.

Another reason Cadel probably didn’t win and Sastre did was the difference between the two teams. The Silence Lotto team worked very hard for Evans, but they were underpowered and not able to help enough when he needed it. I think Popvych’s performance was very disappointing. On the pother hand the CSC team was amazing. they were the best team on the tour by over an hour of combined riding, in the mountains and on the stages they needed to they had a coordinated steam train going up the front assisting Sastre and also Frank Schleck who had the yellow jersey himself for a number of stages.

Geek Girl Profile -

Name: Bronwen Zande
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What is your motivation for blogging?

Originally I started blogging to document problems I’d solved so when I came across it again I’d know how to fix it. As time went on we found our clients, friends, family etc, were reading our blog to see what we were up to. I also use it to document things I’ve done so I can look back and see what we’ve achieved.

I have to start by saying I don’t dislike doctors at all, after all my father is one/. However I really detest going to see my specialist. Not that he’s not a nice bloke, and not that he hasn’t given me good care in his own way over the years. I have been seeing him now for my graves disease for 9 or 10 years, including the radioactive iodine treatment he prescribed for me a couple of years back.

However, the scenario is this. I arrive at the rooms tonight at about 7:57 for an 8PM appointment. I am called into his room at 8:08. I sit down and we talk briefly about my latest blood test and how I haven’t been taking my medication (I ran out because the appointment had been postponed and I didn’t have a script). Anyway it turns out My thyroxin levels are back to normal, so the radioactive iodine has mostly worked. Most of the thyroid is dead and gone but there’s enough left to give me normal levels again. 5 minutes later I am out at the counter and paying the bill. This is the part I detest. For a 1 minute appointment of which I used 5 minutes, I am charged $120 with a $30 discount. Yes I get $40 odd back from the government, but I really detest paying effectively $1440 per hour. Really its $480 or $120 per 15 minutes.

Grrrr

Thanks Doc. At least I am cured (for now).

So now we know why Riccardo Ricco was so good on the climbs – he’s a cheat. He has been removed from the race after testing positive to a banned substance, a version of EPO. Other team members also have been targeted for testing and as a result the whole team has been scratched. This has changed the rankings for the yellow jersey, polka dot jersey and white jersey. I would hate to be the sponsor of that team -Saunier Duval - Scott! Interestingly this team had made the most money from the race so far also. I’m not sure what happens to that.

The good news here is that they have picked this up early enough that it isn’t going to affect the end of the race. I just hope that there are no more riders trying to escape the testing and cheating.

More news on most major news websites. The Guardian reports that Ricco was taken into police custody.