CSC-Saxo bank capped of a fantastic Tour on Sunday when Carlos Sastre claimed the yellow jersey and Andy Schleck took the white young riders jersey. Sastre dug deep to power up L’Alpe d’Huez ahead of the chasing pack and open up a lead.  Two days later he had the time trial of his life to hold of Cadel Evans and Denis Menchov in their strongest discipline to preserve his hold on the jersey.

“I’ve dreamt of this since I was a child,” said an emotional Sastre, who was surrounded by his wife and two children at the finish.

Evans appears to have worn himself out during the gruelling three week event and it seems that having a weaker team than others has cost him again.  “There were more dramas than I expected or wanted and fighting for every second at the end was exhausting,” he said yesterday. “The crash before the race reached the Pyrenees was very taxing and it cost me a fair bit of strength; I used everything I had in the second week and perhaps that’s the price I paid in the third week. It showed in the final time trial. I rode consistently and reached all the time checks well, but I was just not riding as fast as the other guys. That’s the way it goes.”  Interestingly Evans is one of the names being linked to the new Russian super team called Katoucha (see here).

Oscar Freire secured the Green jersey with a third on the final stage, despite having to do most of the work on his own as Rabobank circled their wagons around their GC favourite Denis Menchov (who finished 4th overall) through out the race.  Gert Steegmans of Quickstep won the last stage into Paris.  It is one of Steegmans last appearanecs in a Quick Step jersey as he has admitted signing with Katoucha for 2009.  Bernhard Kohl finished a great Tour for struggling Gerolsteiner to finish third overall and take the polka-dot climbers jersey.

Overall GC

1 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 87.52.52
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 0.58
3 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 1.13
4 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 2.10
5 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 3.05
6 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 4.28
7 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 6.25
8 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia 6.55
9 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 7.12
Overall Green points jersey

1 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank 270 pts
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 220
3 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 217
4 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 181
5 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia 155
6 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 136
7 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 131
8 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silence - Lotto 129
9 Julian Dean (NZl) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 119
10 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team Columbia 116
10 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale 9.05

Overall Polka dot climbers jersey

1 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 128 pts
2 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 80
3 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 80
4 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 65
5 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner 62
6 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner 61
7 John-Lee Augustyn (RSA) Barloworld 61
8 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 58
9 Rémy Di Grégorio (Fra) Française des Jeux 52
10 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 51

Overall Young riders jersey

1 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 88.04.24
2 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 1.27
3 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 17.01

Overall Team
1 Team CSC Saxo Bank 263.29.57
2 AG2R-La Mondiale 15.35
3 Rabobank 1.05.26
4 Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.16.26
5 Silence - Lotto 1.17.15
6 Caisse d’Epargne 1.20.28
7 Team Columbia 1.23.00
8 Lampre 1.26.24
9 Gerolsteiner 1.27.40
10 Credit Agricole 1.37.16
11 Cofidis Credit Par Telephone 1.51.35
12 Liquigas 2.13.21
13 Bouygues Telecom 2.19.07
14 Garmin Chipotle 2.31.05
15 Francaise des Jeux 2.41.37
16 Team Milram 3.13.24
17 Barloworld 3.33.45
18 Quick Step 3.44.10
19 Agritubel 4.15.57