Hip hooray for Floyd

Forget those walk spoilers dressed as pimps for a moment, and spare a thought for the special guys in lycra who have flogged their bodies for the last 3 weeks as they have travelled around France (haven't they heard of a one zone interrail ticket?).

Well done to Floyd Landis, the guy with the dodgy hip, who won La Grande Boucle and who can now at least look forward to recuperating from his hip operation with the maillot jaune to keep him warm.

Well done too to Viatcheslav Ekimov who completed his fifteenth Tour de France. In a nice touch, Ekimov was allowed to lead the bunch across the line during its first passage on the Champs-Élysées...presumably because having ridden the race so many times the peloton were sure he knew the way.

The first TDF of the post-Armstrong era was the most exciting race for years and let's hope the Praying Landis will be back to defend his title next year.