Michael Rasmussen's book hits the shelves and the effects are felt by the peloton.

Tour de France champion Chris Froome has pulled out of Sunday's Tour of Lombardy because of a back injury, his Team Sky said earlier today.

Vasily Kiryienka (Sky) has won Stage 18 of the Vuelta a Espana. The Belorusian jumped into the break of the day and then jumped away from it, soloing home to take the rugged, 186.5-km ride from Burgos to Pena Cabarga in 4:46:48. Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) finished second at 0:28, and Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol) took third at 1:18. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) remains the red jersey, but he had his 0:28 overnight advantage virtually wiped away on the day’s final climb.

Team Sky Pro Cycling's Vasil Kiryienka climbs to victory in stage 18 of Vuelta a Espana 2013 as Chris Horner reduces Vincenzo Nibali's overall Vuelta a Espana lead to a minimum.

The 2013 Tour de France is history. It ended as it began a seeming eon ago on Corsica, with Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) dusting the field. The German took a bunch sprint to win Stage 21, a flat, 133.5-km run from Versailles to Paris, in 3:06:14.

Team Argos-Shimano's Marcel Kittel (Germany) sprints to victory in final stage of Tour de France - a nocturnal ride from Versailles to Champs-Élysées in Paris; Team Sky Procycling's Christopher Froome (Great Britain) takes overall Tour de France victory.

Chris Froome (Sky) has won Stage 17 of the Tour de France 2013. The Briton eked out a victory on the 32-km mountain time trial course from Embrun to Chorges, pipping Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) to win in 51:33. Contador was 0:09 slower than Froome, and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) took third at 0:10. Froome slightly extended his overall lead.

Chris Froome rides to time trial victory and extends his overall Tour de France 2013.

How jaded have we become?

Clearly dismayed by repeated questions about doping, the team of Tour de France leader Chris Froome earlier today volunteered to open up to independent scrutiny all of its training secrets to try to prove "beyond reasonable doubt" that the Briton and his teammates are riding clean.