There were, of course, other riders, too. There were other prizes to be won. The second and third place riders, Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich, should be interesting to watch next year. Thor Hushovd scored the green sprinters jersey ahead of two Australians. Actually Australians made up 4 of the top 10 of the sprinters standings. Mickael Rasmussen, unfortunately more well known for completely coming apart at the seams during the individual time trial, won the climber's jersey with complete ease, more than 30 points clear of the second place rider. It was clear he intended the entire time to win that jersey, since he had a matching polka dot bike, not to mention shorts, gloves, shoes, socks, sunglasses, and helmet. Another Discovery Channel rider, Yaroslav Popovych,won the white jersey for the best young rider in the overall classification, almost 10 minutes ahead of the next guy. He'll only get better, too.
Floyd Landis and Levi Leipheimer will return next year as team leaders again. Not including Lance, there were eight Americans who started the race, three who were team leaders, and four in the top 33. For Americans who started watching because of Lance, which is just about everyone, there will still be reasons to watch.