Although he seized his chance when it mattered, Carlos Sastre benefited from exceptional circumstances to continue Spain's recent domination of the Tour de France. The 33-year-old deserved his success which came against a field lacking last year's champion Alberto Contador and many potential rivals who are out of the sport because of doping. “We are in a period of transition, obviously,” said Tour director Christian Prudhomme. “Sastre is not a young partridge and he siezed the opportunity.” Contador did not take part in this year's race after his Astana team were not invited because of their past doping record while Spaniards Joseba Beloki, Roberto Heras and Francisco Mancebo did not race after being implicated in Operacion Puerto, a blood-doping scandal that erupted in May 2006. Other leading figures in the sport, including German Jan Ullrich and Italian Ivan Basso, were also kicked out of their teams, although Basso will return next season with Liquigas. There were positive tests again from this year's Tour. Spaniards Manuel Beltran and Moises Duenas Nevado, along with Riccardo Ricco, tested positive for the banned blood-booster EPO, prompting the Italian Ricco's Saunier Duval team to quit the race. A fourth positive test was revealed on Sunday when the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) said Dmitriy Fofonov of Kazakhstan had tested positive for the banned stimulant heptaminol after the 18th stage. Some 500 doping tests were carried out just before and during the race, with the positive tests this year seen as another step in the right direction in the fight to oust the cheats. “It is obvious that we made progress in the fight against doping. The difference between those who cheat and those who track them down is narrowing,” said Prudhomme. The way was eventually cleared for Sastre, whose CSC team, in the absence of peloton-shaker Ricco, easily controlled the race, especially in the mountain stages. CSC manager Bjarne Riis, reinstated as the 1996 Tour de France winner one year after organizers erased his name from the winners' list for admitting to doping, installed the unfancied Sastre as the team's leader at the expense of brothers Frank and Andy Schleck and it proved an inspired decision. On Saturday, Sastre rode the time trial of his life, managing to hold off Australian Cadel Evans, who finished second overall for the second consecutive year. – Reuters __
