Controversial Tour ends today

PARIS, August 1: The Tour de France will wobble into Paris tomorrow after a bitter three weeks of scandal and suspicion that threatened to halt a race which had only ever been stopped by the two World Wars.

The race may have survived but its reputation has taken a pummelling. After years of rumours about drug use, the veil of silence has been ripped away.French daily Le Monde8217;s front page headline echoed the disillusionment expressed by many commentators: 8220;The Tour de France: A broken legend8221;.

Since the Festina team was banned on July 17, the crisis has kept spreading. Six other teams have withdrawn. The cyclists set off on their penultimate stage today, a 52-km time trial, as the drug scandal drilled deeper into the sport and claimed its first rider.