Tour becomes a global event on all fronts under Leblanc

By Andreas Zellmer Jul 24, 2006, 14:43 GMT

US Floyd Landis (Phonak Hearing Systems team) in the yellow jersey of the overall leader carries a american flag on the Champs Elysees after the twentieth stage of the 93rd Tour de France 2006 in Paris, France, Sunday 23 July 2006. The last stage led the riders over 154,5 kilometers from Sceaux-Antony to Paris. EPA/OLIVER WEIKEN

Paris - An American won like in 1989 when he started the job, but the Tour de France underwent big changes during the reign of Jean-Marie Leblanc as director of the famous cycling race.

Greg LeMond was the winner 17 years ago and the Stars and Stripes were out again on Sunday when Leblanc's time at the Tour ended with Floyd Landis wearing the famous yellow jersey of overall winner.

The former journalist Leblanc started his job calling for globalisation of the famous three-week event which was staged for the 93rd time this year.

The Tour has seen stages all over Europe, with the 2007 edition due to start in London.

LeMond was the first American winner, Bjarne Rijs made history for Denmark in 1996 and Jan Ullrich was the first German in 1997. Lance Armstrong got his record-setting seven Tour-titles during Leblanc's reign and Miguel Indurain five.

Indurain is from Spain. The only other winner from a classic cycling country - and the last to date - was the late Italian Marco Pantani in 1998.

The last French winner was Bernard Hinault back in 1985, Joop Zoetemelk the last Dutch in 1980 and cycling-crazy Belgium has not had a Tour de France champion since Lucien Van Impe in 1976.

A look at the various standings after Sunday's finale further underlines that the race has rather turned into a 'Tour de World,' as French sports daily L'Equipe put it.

The overall winner was American, the points winner Australian (Robbie McEwan), a Dane (Mikael Rasmussen) was king of the mountains and the team champion was German (T-Mobile).

Leblanc says the Tour has become 'modern' during his term, a fact that unfortunately also applies to the seemingly growing number of drug cheats.

Doping has always affected the Tour, the most prominent example being Briton Tom Simpson, who died during the 1967 edition from a whole cocktail of drugs.

Citing lab results from last year published by L'Equipe, Leblanc insists that Armstrong used the blood doping substance EPO to win the 1999 Tour and Pantani's drug abuse is seen as one reason for his death a few years ago.

The Tour was in shambles in 1998 when the whole Festina team was kicked out after a team official was caught with a car-load of drugs.

But even that was topped on the eve of this year's edition when Ullrich, Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso and others were suspended by their teams for alleged involvement in a massive scheme centring on Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.

'Everyone knows that we no longer tolerate doping,' insisted Leblanc, who also acknowledged that the Tour (and cycling in general) underestimated to explosiveness of the issue until the Festina scandal.

Many questioned the value of the 2006 race without the suspended stars, but it in fact turned out to be memorable event, most notably Landis' heroic comeback on the final stage in the Alps Thursday, just 24 hours after losing almost 10 minutes on his rivals.

The French media described the latest Tour as 'fou, fou, fou' (crazy, crazy, crazy), with the yellow jersey changing 10 times as no athlete or team was able to gain full control over the action like Armstrong and others managed in the past.

Leblanc, 61, named the 2006 race a 'transition,' a term that also fits his leadership at the event as he shared the burden for the past three years with Christian Prud'homme before handing him the reigns for good.

'My mission is fulfilled now. It is time to start a new chapter in my life. I didn't want to quit as an old man. I will now write my memoirs and will make music which is my big love,' he said.