ccLawrence & mutac_incredible - thanks for the vote­ down - I feel reassured that old guys like you who live­ in the past are not like me ! 2 many points you make­ to argue but there are a few. The best grand tour ever­ ? what about 03 TDF ? bet you don't like Lance­ though. Best parcours ? yes it was good but 2 many­ hard stages that encourage doping - the TDF is trying­ to get away from 5 million mile stages that do that. ­ As for the doping nadir 1990-2007 - hav a word with­ yourself ! Eddie Mercx/Sean Kelly never doped then ! ­ Still great riders but...... Lance was the same,­ probably doped but what other rider could hav got off­ the floor at Luz Ardiden in 03 & won that stage­ ?

Catching my breath...... Italian doping authorities­ don't act until forced to & then ban Di Luca­ for 3 mths in winter - fantastic ! I would not trust­ Giro organisers to test me for acne. The TDF will flog­ itself in public in order to clean up cycling and is to­ be applauded.

You real cyclists should be asking­ journalists to find out who the other 150 names were on­ the Puerto list, why only 50 cyclists hunted ? How­ many were footballers and tennis players ? The great­ cash cow of football cannot be touched - dump it all­ onto cycling.

Look forward to seeing real cyclist­ mutac_incredible in Monaco, at Verbier, the Tourmalet­ & Mont Ventoux this year, I wil be there. will­ ccLawrence79 the 'real fan' !

Never saw you in­ 06 as Landis went over the top of the Joux Plane (Alps,­ guys) or at Ax Trois Domain & St Lary Soulan in 05­ when Lance came past, nor Alp D'Huez 07 as Franc­ Shleck won, I won't mention 08 ......

Hav ridden­ Galibier - all ways, Croix de fer the hard way, Alp­ D'huez, La Toussuire, Joux Plane, Port de­ Pailheres, AX Trois Domain (Plateau de Bonascre) many­ others.

Now bore off

I think Dennis has done really well, i could not­ beleive his bad luck whilst going up alpe d'huez­ last year, and it nearly ruined him again...
unlucky­ leipheimer and well don lance!

So glad Menchov came through for me with that skid in­ the last K. Absolutely priceless. What would a grand­ tour be without a totally random crash by one of the­ race leaders. That was probably the most awesome­ display of excitement ever at the end of a stage also.­ So much fun to watch. I wonder if the TDF will offer­ near as much fan fodder?

ccLawrence79, put your head back in the sand.­ Petepayifc is right on, as is Norman. Dope and­ transfusions are everywhere and you can't trust­ that Menchov, Di Luca, Pellizotti or any of them for­ that matter are clean although many are these days, we­ just don't know which ones. The desire for­ performance enhancement plus the Omerta mean that the­ fans can't trust what they see. It's not the­ fan's fault, it's the riders and the­ establishment that have lost the trust. It was only one­ year ago that Ricco was flying and whining about­ Contador cheating and then he himself got popped. This­ was solid entertainment however, certainly better than­ last year.

congratulations Ignatas Konovalovas, he is so young, I­ think it's not a last him Win. I hope he win for­ Lithuania gold sometime

Interesting how Di Luca decided to use a non- TT bike­ (easier to handle in the wet) PLUS went round the first­ few kilometres 4 seconds quicker than Menchov to pile­ on psychological pressure...
'
... so that Menchov­ on a TT bike would take risks and fall and lose the­ Giro. But Menchov did fall yet went much faster on a­ TT bike, so the presumed Di Luca plan partly worked but­ not fully.
'
Still, like Di Luca said he­ wouldn't want to win it due to Menchov crashing so­ maybe the above theory holds no­ water.
(keir_williams's­ post was funny- it is very­ difficult to fall off when going uphill).

Why is every body talking about Armstrong form? What­ about Basso he was out too and he returns in great­ shape almost in conditions to win the giro. I believe­ this TDF will be one of the greatest, Menchov, Basso,­ Lance, Contador, Evans, Sastre, Andy Schleck very hot­ tour.

I think a lot of people took keir_williams's­ comments badly. Can I just say it read very funny to­ me.

What's pink and orange and falls off in a straight­ line, or going uphill ?
Wheel-sucker or not he was the­ strongest guy out there.
(plus DiLuca had the tactical­ awareness of a goldfish)

If anyone is interested.. cadel evans can be called a­ wheel sucker.. that guy never attacks.

Great victory by Menchov - and thanks DeLuca for making­ it so good by attacking all the time. What an exciting­ finish!!!
As for Armstrong his mission to publicise his­ Livestrong Foundation (his declared aim in coming back)­ has been an abject failure as he still can`t handle the­ press.
His performance on the bike was realistic after­ all the hype that he could win after such a long time­ away from top competition & he could be seen­ getting stronger every day but he looked tired &­ pissed off at the end of each stage.

Well done Menchov, I followed the race every day and a­ cretit to ICF for the course and organization and good­ presentation by Eurosport too, I will be in France for­ some of the TDF lets hope its as good and we finally­ sort out all the cheats and I am looking forward to­ that GB team for next year, I hope they get the­ sponsorship and a good team together and put up a­ decent show with the talent they have they just need a­ few good climbers and some toughened experience to­ compete,

To all "Menchov wheel sucker" theory­ promoters:

There is a saying (story) in­ cycling:

Climber and a sprinter (in this case a TT­ rider) are going up a hill and are battling for GC:
-­ "Come on and pull too", says the climber.
-­ "I won't pull", says the sprinter.
-­ "Why not?" asks the climber.
- "Cause my­ job is to sprint and your job is to climb, so do your­ job!"

I can see how people think Menchov was a wheel sucker.­ However, once the race leader, he was always marking di­ Luca to defend the leaders jersey knowing he had a­ strong chance of beating di Luca during the final tt­ sage. It was di Luca's job to do the attacking,­ Menchov controled the race by being the leader and­ matched every move of di Luca's. One could hardly­ tell if poker faced Menchov was fading or not. These­ riders were very closely matched and both gave it­ everything in the mountains. I suppose a wheel sucker­ just stays with the best riders and has little or no­ intentions of attacking for the leaders jersey and­ counts on other riders weaknesses in later stages.

Denis and carlos looking good tdf here we come.

Petepaylfc your post is such nonsense that it shouldn’t­ be honored with a reply, but I will do it anyway.

I­ would like to start by saying that in my opinion­ Italian anti-doping prosecutors are doing the best job­ out there and if Operation Puerta happened in Italy­ athletes involved in allegations wouldn’t come out­ scot-free. Them I would like to remind you that doping­ is a global problem and not Italian or Eastern European­ one. Can you tell me from where Stefan Schumacher,­ Bernhard Kohl, David Millar, Tyler Hamilton, Floyd­ Landis, Roberto Heras, Richard Virenque and Alex Zülle­ are coming from? And I could go one and one with this­ list. Furthermore I would like to remind you that good­ days bad days don’t always make sense. Do you remember­ what happened to Floyd Landis in stages 16 and 17 of­ Tour 2006?

In the end this Giro was the best and most­ exciting race I ever saw in my life and I have watched­ every Giro, Tour and Vuelta since 1994. And if you do­ not believe in cycling any more just stop following it.­ Doping has been and it will always be a part of every­ sport. Some people will always try to take shortcuts­ (not just in cycling) and all we can hope for is that­ those people will get caught and punished­ accordingly.

BTW true cyclist will always prefer Giro­ over Tour. And if you think I am Italian you couldn’t­ be more wrong.

petepaylfc - I think you need to get out more or­ something, another typical narrow minded comment that­ is seen each and every day on cycling comments on­ eurosport. Note to all cycling comment writers - get a­ life for gods sake and get over the stereotype -­ it's us (the cycling fans) that fuel the flames of­ this bull$hit and continue to drag the sport down. Yes­ there are people that use drugs, but they are few and­ far between and testing has been so rigorous in the­ last 5 years that we must focus on that progress and­ see each positive test as a success, rather than­ continued focus on former cheats, Cycling lets not­ forget leads the way in clean sport. We've all seen­ the nadir in the period between 1990-2007, lets­ generate positive enthusiam for the wider sport. No­ positive tests coming back around the giro (to today)­ this time which is a massive step forward for the sport­ - a seemably clean tour and winner. Yes your comments­ hold some weight around the italian riders like­ Pettachi et al, but Menchov is in fact clean (to date).­ SO eventually turning our attention to the sport rather­ than the scandal - Well done Dennis Menchov, possibly­ the most exciting grand tour finish since lemond in the­ 80s with his final days time trial win. Showed massive­ tactic awareness, especially in the interval sprint­ yeasterday, and through the versuvio mountain stage.­ This sort of finish has really been great and the TDF­ organisers should take some lessons from this!!­ Mountains 1st Week, Time Trial last day. Long live­ cycling!

Well done Denis and well done to the organisers for the­ course and making it a Grand Tour to remember.Good mix­ of mountains and TT.....I think everyone had a fair­ crack of the whip and every day was worth watching.Di­ Luca has to come out of it with credit for never giving­ up and most of the top players had a good go at some­ stage.Hope the tour is as good but apart from the­ ventoux stage it doesn't look in the same league as­ the Giro's parcours.