LAWFUEL – The Law Newswire – Despite legal issues like doping and the expulsions that followed, the Tour de France was won by Spain’s Alberto Contador on Sunday.
Contador finished safely in the pack of the final stage, won by Italian Daniele Bennati, to secure the crown, the Sports Network reports.
The Spaniard, racing for the Discovery Channel Team, finished 23 seconds ahead of Australian Cadel Evans. American Levi Leipheimer was third, 31 seconds back.
This year’s event lost some of its luster in the wake of recent doping- related expulsions, including Denmark’s Michael Rasmussen, who led the overall standings before being removed from the race by his team on Wednesday night.
Rasmussen’s Rabobank team banished the Danish rider from the race after discovering he lied of his whereabouts during his training in June. Rasmussen was apparently supposed to be training in Mexico, but the team later found out he was in Italy during a time when he reportedly missed random drug tests.
It was the third notable doping-related dismissal from the Tour. Kazakhstan’s Alexandre Vinokourov and his Astana team left the Tour on Tuesday after accusations of doping and the Cofidis team abandoned earlier Wednesday after Italy’s Cristian Moreni apparently tested positive for testosterone following the 11th stage of the Tour last week.
