Marco Pantani, the winner of the 1998 Tour de France, was kicked out of the Tour of Italy last week, suspected of taking the banned drug EPO. In France, this was very big news. It is hard to think of a sporting event anywhere in the world with the same home following as the Tour. Nowhere else does one third of a country's entire population leave its armchairs to watch them. Every summer, 20 million people line village streets and mountain passes to hail la Grande Boucle. It has spawned hundreds of books and films, and made demi-gods of its winners. Politicians get re-elected simply for ensuring a stage takes place in their region.