A steady drizzle greeted the Tour de France as it arrived in Paris yesterday afternoon, with Alberto Contador, of Spain, claiming a tainted overall victory as the three-week race came to a merciful end.

The sun broke through as the peloton sped along the Champs Elysées but this was the return of the shamed prodigal, welcomed home to the French capital with a shrug of resigned indifference.

A thinner crowd than usual, lacking the fervour of the American frenzies that dominated the streets of Paris during the Lance Armstrong years, looked on as Contador, who now counts the Texan as his mentor, rode to his first Tour victory.

Other than in the contrôle anti-dopage camper van, there have been few positives to this year’s race.

The best moments were to be had in southeast England, when the Tour’s Grand Départ, in London and Kent, was greeted by four million roadside fans.

Since then, the worst suspicions of those who know European cycling well have been confirmed. A Tour that was supposed to usher in an era of renewal has dissolved among bitter recriminations from the alphabet soup of acronyms that preside over the sport.

A problem that was thought to have been solved, has in fact been amplified. “Cycling is in the toilet,” Dick Pound, the World AntiDoping Agency president, said last summer. In that case, the Tour de France, 2007 vintage, has been flushed through the U-bend.

France’s media yesterday led the calls for reform, with L’Equipe proposing a return to the format of national, rather than sponsored, teams. However, much of what was said appeared to be resigned to defeat, with one paper branding the Tour “an alcoholic who promises that he’s given up, only to hide another ten bottles under the floorboards”. The sight of the Eiffel Tower on the Tour’s final Sunday is usually a euphoric moment for those who have survived the odyssey, but this year, most of the 141 riders remaining were desperate to leave the event behind.

Charley Wegelius, of Great Britain, competing in his first Tour, summed up the mood of many of those who had been merely bit players in the 2007 race’s ongoing dramas. “I am glad I did it because I’ve never ridden the Tour before,” Wegelius said. “But it’s been hard work and I’m sick of it. I wish we could just talk about cycling, about sprint finishes and breakaways.” The 29-year-old revealed that the riders themselves were reluctant to discuss doping. “In the peloton, nobody talks about it,” he said. “People just talk about cars and stuff. It’s anything to avoid talking about it.”

Only David Millar, among those least surprised by the ongoing resistance to clean cycling, perhaps because of his own brush with the doping authorities in 2004, was keen to accentuate the positive. “I think it’s really good that we’re getting strong reactions from the teams and sponsors and that they are taking risks like this,” he said. “What Rabobank did with [Michael] Rasmussen is a very strong statement, because they have been in cycling for years and support it from youth right through to professional level. It’s a big step and I hope that everyone is learning from it.”

Asked if other riders in the peloton had been pleased by Rabobank’s eviction of Rasmussen late last Wednesday night, Millar responded, “Oh God, yes.” Contador, 24, was certainly among them. Prevented from starting last year’s Tour because of his involvement in the Operation Puerto doping investigation, Contador has since been absolved by the Spanish investigators.

“I have nothing to prove,” he insisted on Saturday evening, but it will take far more than protestations of innocence to restore the image of cycling’s flagship event and its champion.

Final positions

Ninteenth stage (Cognac to Angoulême, 55.5km): 1, L Leipheimer (US, Discovery Channel) 1hr 2min 44sec; 2, C Evans (Aus, Predictor-Lotto) at 51sec behind; 3, V Karpets (Russ, Caisse d’Epargne) 1min 56sec; 4, Y Popovych (Ukr, Discovery Channel) 2:01; 5, A Contador (Sp, Discovery Channel) 2:18. Final stage (Marcoussis to Paris Champs-Élysées, 146km): 1, D Bennati (Italy, Lampre-Fondital) 3:51:03; 2, T Hushovd (Nor, Crédit Agricole); 3, E Zabel (Ger, Team Milram); 4, R Hunter (SA, Barloworld); 5, T Boonen (Bel, Quick Step-Innergetic). Leading British: 8, D Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir) all same time.

Leading final positions: Overall: 1, Contador 91:00:26; 2, Evans at 0:23 behind; 3, Leipheimer (US, Discovery Channel) 0:31; 4, C Sastre (Sp, Team CSC) 7:08; 5, H Zubeldia (Sp, Euskaltel-Euskadi) 8:17; 6, A Valverde (Sp, Caisse d’Epargne) 11:37; 7, K Kirchen (Lux, T-Mobile) 12:18; 8, Popovych 12:30; 9, Astarloza 14:14; 10, Pereiro 14:25; 11, M Soler (Col, Barloworld) 16:51; 12, M Boogerd (Neth, Rabobank) 21:15; 13, D Arroyo (Sp, Caisse d’Epargne) 21:49; 14, Karpets 24:15; 15, C Horner (US, Predictor-Lotto) 25:19; 16, I Mayo (Sp, Saunier Duval-Prodir) 27:09; 17, F Schleck (Lux, Team CSC) 31:48; 18, M Beltran (Sp, Liquigas) 34:14; 19, T Valjavec (Slovenia, Lampre-Fondital) 37:08; 20, J J Cobo (Sp, Saunier Duval-Prodir) 37:14. British: 45, C Wegelius (Liquigas) 1:46:25; 69, D Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir) 2:32:07; 140, G Thomas (Barloworld) 3:46:51. Points: 1, Boonen 256pts; 2, Hunter 234; 3, Zabel 232; 4, Hushovd 186; 5, Chavanel 181. King of the Mountains: 1, Soler 206pts; 2, Contador 128; 3, Popovych 105; 4, Evans 92; 5, L Lefevre (Fr, Bouygues Telecom) 85. Young rider: 1, Contador 91:00:26; 2, Soler at 16:51 behind; 3, A Txurruka (Sp, Euskaltel-Euskadi) 49:34. Team: 1, Discovery Channel 273:12:52; 2, Caisse D’Epargne at 19:36 behind; 3, Team CSC 22:10.