The real winners of the Tour

While the Armstrong case is for global and not Basque-only websites to discuss, the fact that he was racing (and winning) at the same time as some of the Basque Country's best ever cyclists, Laiseka, Mayo, Zubeldia, Beloki et al., makes taking a look at what the overall standings at the Tour from 1999 to 2005 would look like without Lance's now tarnished name at the top of them an enticing proposition.

If Lance does indeed get stripped of all his victories from 1998 and onwards, it would make Ibán Mayo, a totally random example of course, a two-time Dauphiné Libéré winner and a two-time Tour de France stage-victor. Not that that would make much sense as Ibán's been proved to be just as full of performance enhancing drugs as the Texan, but that's what's likely to happen. What's more interesting though, is to take the top ten overall from each Tour de France Lance won and rid them of riders that have either been convicted of doping, have been involved in doping-related investigations and/or are widely known to have been cheating (either through admittance post-career or otherwise). That means the likes of Beloki (Puerto), Moreau (Festina) and Zülle (Festina), to name but a few, are removed from the results along with the likes of Lance, Basso, Ullrich, Mayo, Vino and all those. It's purely hypothetical, and doesn't really mean much I know, but here's what the final overall standings would look like for the Basques. And, by the way, Haimar Zubeldia won the 2003 Tour.

1999: Abraham Olano of Anoeta, Gipuzkoa, would have been number two overall instead of number six. If the ONCE rider can be classified as 'clean' is debatable though, as he was known to be a client of the infamous Ferrari and rode for ONCE. Still though, one can't for sure say that all Ferrari's clients have been doped, so I wouldn't take him off the overall. In first place would be Fernando Escartín of Kelme, the team accused of systematic doping a few years later. So there you go. Makes sense, doesn't it?

2000: Escartín wins again even though he ended up eighth. Bilbao native Javier Otxoa, now a paracyclist, would have been third.

2001: Vino's best mate, Andrei Kivilev, would have triumphed ahead of Francois Simon and Michel Boogerd. Iñigo Chaurreau of San Sebastián would have been fourth, Roberto Laiseka tenth.

2002: No (clean) Basques close.

2003: Haimar Zubeldia wins. Easily. Roberto Laiseka would have been fourth.

2004: Iker Camaño (!) would have been ninth.

2005: Haimar Zubeldia would have grabbed his second podium with second place behind Cadel Evans, while Xabier Zandio would have been sixth.

I don't think it will make much difference to Haimar, a former team-mate of Lance of course, but still. Along with Carlos Sastre, he's the only rider in the top ten of 2003 with an as of yet untarnished reputation.