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Spain, led by Alberto Contador and Carlos Sastre, dominated another doping-rocked year of cycling but will face a daunting task to retain their status when Lance Armstrong returns from three years in retirement.

Seven-times Tour champion Armstrong, who beat cancer before winning the world's greatest race from 1999 to 2005, shocked the cycling world when he announced in September that he was getting back on his bike to promote his cancer awareness campaign.

In an amazing year for Spain, Contador, Tour de France winner in 2007, became only the fifth man to win all three big Tours with a Giro-Vuelta double, and Sastre claimed the Tour.

Sastre appeared to be a winner by default as Contador was missing from the race after his Astana team were excluded because of their past doping record.

Samuel Sanchez won the Olympic road event and veteran Joan Llaneras snatched gold in the points race in Beijing, with Alejandro Valverde topping the world rankings.

Britain thrashed the opposition on the Beijing track, with Chris Hoy snatching three golds to lead his country to seven of the 10 titles up for grabs at the Laoshan velodrome.

There was, however, a sense of deja vu in the sport with another string of doping scandals following the emergence of a new generation of erythropoietin, called CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator).

Spain was not spared by events as Manuel Beltran and Moises Duenas Nevado tested positive for EPO during the Tour de France, with Maria Isabel Moreno also being caught in the net just before the Olympics.

"We have a problem in Spain. It's time Spanish authorities started to do something concrete. For years, they have not been tough enough on doping and this is the result of their leniency," UCI president Pat McQuaid said at the Olympics.

While a Madrid court closed the Operation Puerto investigation into a blood doping ring after concluding that no criminal offences had been committed, the UCI armed itself for the coming year by launching biological passports.

The UCI has been collecting blood samples from all professional cyclists to create medical profiles that are then compared to the data registered in doping tests.

The 5 million euro (£4.7m) programme bore its first fruits when it was announced in August that Italian Emanuele Sella, the Giro's best climber, had tested positive for CERA during Italy's premium race after being targeted by the UCI.

The Tour de France's top climber, Austrian Bernhard Kohl, also fell from grace after retroactive tests from the race showed traces of CERA in his blood, as well as in Italians Riccardo Ricco and Leonardo Piepoli and German Stefan Schumacher.

Former world champion Johan Museeuw and nine other people, including a veterinarian, were convicted of doping offences by a Belgian court in December.

Tour organisers Amaury Sport Organisation and the UCI settled a long-standing row, with ASO, who wanted to decide who took part in its events, returning under the ruling body's guidance.

"I am much relieved that the conflict between UCI and ASO was resolved. It is vitally important that UCI and ASO work together for the betterment of our sport as it is in both our interests," McQuaid added.

UCI vice-president Hein Verbruggen left the ruling body he had served from 1991 to 2006 and ASO president Patrice Clerc, the UCI's fiercest opponent, was also asked to leave by the Tour organisers' parent company, Editions Philippe Amaury.

"It seems we got rid of the two big problems we had in cycling," said a cycling official, who declined to be named.

Before the UCI v ASO war ended, the Tour de France had another tough year on the doping front.

Duenas Nevado and Beltran were kicked out after testing positive for EPO and the Saunier Duval team quit after Ricco failed a dope test.

The French Anti-Doping Agency's laboratory implemented a new blood test for CERA, an EPO that diffuses slowly in the body, and retroactively tested samples collected during the Tour.

The tests showed in October that Ricco, Piepoli, Kohl and Schumacher had used the drug, dealing the sport a blow in Germany.

German state television ARD announced they would not broadcast next year's Tour and Tour of Germany organisers called off the country's biggest race for 2009.

The announcement of Armstrong's return was good news for the promoters of the sport. A strong figure in cycling with a huge expected impact in the US, the Texan joined his mentor Johan Bruyneel at Astana, where he will ride along with Contador.

The 25-year-old Contador, voted 2008's top rider by cycling writers, will be back on the French roads in the same roster as Armstrong, who has had difficult relationships with the organisers following doping allegations after his 2005 victory.

Contador will also face a tough challenge from Italian Ivan Basso, one of a few figures making their comeback to the sport after doping suspensions.

Reuters