By winning the Giro d’Italia yesterday, Alberto Contador became the first rider to win the Tour de France and the Giro back to back since his fellow Spaniard Miguel Indurain did it 1993 (Indurain did it in the same year; Contador across years).

But the best Grand Tour rider won’t be defending his Tour de France title this year. In whst dhould go down as one of the more boneheaded responses to its ongoing doping scandal, the organizers of the Tour – have dropped Contador’s (new) team from this year’s invitation list.