Sport, in general, and cycling in particular will reach a crossroads on the chic Champs Elysees on Sunday.
When the Tour de France sweeps into the majestic boulevard at the end of another tortuous test of human endurance, will the peloton be worshipped as a sporting shrine or denounced as a travelling pharmacy? The end of the Tour de France is usually the day of days for the world's most famous street as thousands of people gather for the end of the country's most cherished sporting event.
But things are a lot different this year. The Champs Elysees became roaringly drunk on fine champagne at the party of the century to celebrate France's World Cup final victory over Brazil and is still trying to regain its famous cool.
And the Tour de France, an institution seemingly as enduring and enchanting as long lunches at a pavement bistro, suddenly has the gastronomic appeal of a growth hormone hamburger with a side salad of steroids.
French newspapers, which have whetted the country's appetite for the Tour over the decades, have been quick to post a health warning following the doping scandals of the past week.
Blared Le Monde: 'Who from now on could rejoice at seeing the rest of a compromised pack enter Paris; who would then be able to applaud the winner of a race without faith or law?' Who indeed? Surely not the self-same people who celebrated the ascension of France to footballing heaven just a few weeks ago. There again, they may reason that sports like cycling are already in a drugs hell so what's wrong with competitors dancing with the devil? If a big crowd does throng the Champs Elysees it will provide the most damning evidence yet that the war on drugs in sport cannot be won and that spectators have resigned themselves to that fact.
