Though some teams instituted a zero-tolerance policy, three riders were booted for doping violations during the 21-day race, leading to harsh criticism in the press.

Versus says that a larger number of people than last year tuned into at least some portion of Tour coverage, but average viewership took a hit, meaning many of them did not return after sampling.

Doping deserves some of the blame. 

“Obviously it’s the elephant in the room,” says Marc Fein, Versus executive vice president of programming, production and business operations at Versus. “Some people might be turned off a bit by the bad things that have happened, the doping in the sport.”

To its credit, Versus did its best to deflect the doping issue with a series of promotional spots entitled "Take Back the Tour" with this message: "Screw the dopers, politics, and critics." But that message most resonated with serious Tour fans, less the casual viewing public. 

Viewership was down 18 percent for the 2008 Tour through last Tuesday, according to the most recent Nielsen numbers available, going from an average 171,000 viewers last year to 140,000 this year.

That includes all the Tour dayparts, such as the live morning broadcasts and the taped primetime coverage.

The live segments, starting each day at 8:30 a.m., drew the biggest audience, 264,000, including 100,000 viewers 18-49. That’s compared to an average 343,000 in the morning last year, with 139,000 18-49s.

When the final numbers are out later this week, it will be the least-watched Tour in years, pulling barely half the average 315,000 who tuned in in 2005, the year Lance Armstrong won his last race.

But not all the numbers are bad.

Among the core viewers Versus’ advertisers had hoped to reach, biking enthusiasts, Fein says the coverage did well. And there was a big spike among men 18-34.

Those enthusiasts are young, mostly male, affluent and an all-around desirable audience that's especially attractive to makers of high-end bikes, which can cost $5,000 and up.

Even with the doping scandals of recent years, tour advertising has been on the rise. Advertisers in 2007 spent $5.5 million on Versus, up 8 percent from 2006, according to TNS Media Intelligence, and spending was expected to be up again this year.

Versus also saw a huge jump in online video views compared with last year. During the first week and a half, downloads surpassed last year’s total of 3.5 million, and by Friday they had hit 5.9 million.

Yet it came in yet another tumultuous year for the Tour.

Beforehand, some media people thought ratings could rise, with the doping problems of 2006 winner Floyd Landis and others behind them. The network even lured in several new sponsors.

But once again doping took over the headlines. Three riders tested positive for EPO, including Italian cyclist Riccardo Ricco, who had won two stages and sat ninth overall in the race.

One team, Barloworld, pulled its sponsorship after Moisés Dueñas Nevado tested positive, violating its no-tolerance policy. All three of the riders were arrested in addition to being booted from the Tour, in accordance with a newly passed French law banning riders from being in possession of or using banned substances.

Commentators in the U.S. and abroad were appalled by the continued problems.

“The Tour de France is disintegrating,” charged one Berlin newspaper. A Swiss paper lamented, “Stock in cyclist credibility has taken a steep dive in value.”

Still, the swift reaction from the Tour and Versus made it clear that both are pushing to clean up the race.

“Every sport has it,” Fein says of doping problems.

“It’s impacted [cycling] a bit more than perhaps some other sports, and this year there were some unfortunate circumstances, but compared to other years it was a little less. Hopefully next year there will be less and then none.”