Spain’s Alberto Contador captures Tour de France

PARIS – Alberto Contador won the doping-scarred Tour de France on Sunday, a new, young and unlikely winner for the three-week race shaken to its core by scandals.

The 24-year-old rider for the American Discovery Channel team was the youngest champion since Jan Ullrich of Germany in 1997. He was also the first Spaniard to stand atop the winner’s podium since the last of Miguel Indurain’s five titles in 1995.His margin of victory – just 23 seconds ahead of Cadel Evans of Australia – was the second-narrowest in the Tour’s 104-year history, after 3 500 kilometres of racing through Britain, Belgium, Spain and France.”It’s an extraordinary joy …a dream,” said Contador, who kissed his winner’s yellow jersey on the podium and thrust his arms ecstatically in the air, with the Arc of Triumph in the background.On the Discovery team bus, staffers uncorked champagne.”I think we’ve seen the future of Spanish cycling and perhaps international cycling,” seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong said of Contador.Another Discovery rider, Levi Leipheimer of the United States, came third, 31 seconds behind.Contador had seemed destined for second place until the Tour was hit by a bombshell just five days from the finish: the ouster of race leader Michael Rasmussen.His Rabobank team accused the Dane of having lied about his whereabouts before the Tour to evade doping controls.Rasmussen’s departure catapulted Contador into the race lead, Predictor-Lotto rider Evans to the runner-up spot, and Leipheimer into third.Those standings held through the closing four days – including a thrilling time trial Saturday that Leipheimer won and the 146-kilometre final ride Sunday to Paris’ fan-lined Champs-Elysees from Marcoussis, west of the capital.The stage was won by Daniele Bennati of Italy.Contador high-fived and hugged his team mates after crossing the line.His original goal was to take the white jersey for the best young rider.In the end, he got both white and yellow jerseys.”It’s a dream come true,” Contador said through a translator.Contador’s victory has back-from-the-brink appeal.In 2004, he suffered a massive blood clot in his brain.While in a hospital, Contador drew inspiration from reading a book about Armstrong, who survived testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain.Asked on French television about his brain surgery, Contador took off his helmet and showed a large scar running down the side of his head.”This year, I hoped to win the white jersey.I did not know that with the white jersey, the yellow one would come, too.”Contador was a new star for a race that has been searching for a successor to Armstrong, who retired in 2005, and which is struggling to repair its credibility after two straight years marred by doping.The 2006 winner, Floyd Landis, did not defend his crown because of doping charges hanging over him.This Tour turned into a circus after it emerged that Rasmussen was competing despite missing doping controls in May and June, and after Kazakh star Alexandre Vinokourov – a pre-race favourite – and Cristian Moreni of Italy failed doping tests.They and their teams left the race, and police raided their hotels, searching for doping products.Instead of putting the doping cloud left by Landis behind them, Tour organisers again found themselves having to contend daily with the issue.The feel-good factor generated by the race’s July 7 start in London, England – watched by millions of fans – quickly faded.A split emerged as Tour organisers blamed the sport’s governing body, the UCI, for not telling them that Rasmussen had missed doping tests.The organisers said they would have prevented him from taking the start had they known.Some newspapers in France declared the Tour dead and said that it should be suspended until the sport cleans up.Tour officials have been looking to the younger generation in the hope these riders have been less influenced by the doping rife in the late 1990s.Riders in their 20s – not in their 30s like Vinokourov and Rasmussen – swept the Tour’s top honours.The winner of the polka-dot jersey given to the King of the Mountains was Juan Mauricio Soler of Colombia, aged 24.It was his first Tour.Tom Boonen of Belgium, 28, earned his first green jersey as the best sprinter in four Tour appearances.Bennati, who also won a stage on Thursday, is 26 – and said he wept after winning the sprint on the Champs-Elysees.”Winning here, the last stage, is a dream – I still can’t believe it,” Bennati said.”I am very, very happy …My career starts today.”Nampa-APHe was also the first Spaniard to stand atop the winner’s podium since the last of Miguel Indurain’s five titles in 1995.His margin of victory – just 23 seconds ahead of Cadel Evans of Australia – was the second-narrowest in the Tour’s 104-year history, after 3 500 kilometres of racing through Britain, Belgium, Spain and France.”It’s an extraordinary joy …a dream,” said Contador, who kissed his winner’s yellow jersey on the podium and thrust his arms ecstatically in the air, with the Arc of Triumph in the background.On the Discovery team bus, staffers uncorked champagne.”I think we’ve seen the future of Spanish cycling and perhaps international cycling,” seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong said of Contador.Another Discovery rider, Levi Leipheimer of the United States, came third, 31 seconds behind.Contador had seemed destined for second place until the Tour was hit by a bombshell just five days from the finish: the ouster of race leader Michael Rasmussen.His Rabobank team accused the Dane of having lied about his whereabouts before the Tour to evade doping controls.Rasmussen’s departure catapulted Contador into the race lead, Predictor-Lotto rider Evans to the runner-up spot, and Leipheimer into third.Those standings held through the closing four days – including a thrilling time trial Saturday that Leipheimer won and the 146-kilometre final ride Sunday to Paris’ fan-lined Champs-Elysees from Marcoussis, west of the capital.The stage was won by Daniele Bennati of Italy.Contador high-fived and hugged his team mates after crossing the line.His original goal was to take the white jersey for the best young rider.In the end, he got both white and yellow jerseys.”It’s a dream come true,” Contador said through a translator.Contador’s victory has back-from-the-brink appeal.In 2004, he suffered a massive blood clot in his brain.While in a hospital, Contador drew inspiration from reading a book about Armstrong, who survived testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain.Asked on French television about his brain surgery, Contador took off his helmet and showed a large scar running down the side of his head.”This year, I hoped to win the white jersey.I did not know that with the white jersey, the yellow one would come, too.”Contador was a new star for a race that has been searching for a successor to Armstrong, who retired in 2005, and which is struggling to repair its credibility after two straight years marred by doping.The 2006 winner, Floyd Landis, did not defend his crown because of doping charges hanging over him.This Tour turned into a circus after it emerged that Rasmussen was competing despite missing doping controls in May and June, and after Kazakh star Alexandre Vinokourov – a pre-race favourite – and Cristian Moreni of Italy failed doping tests.They and their teams left the race, and police raided their hotels, searching for doping products.Instead of putting the doping cloud left by Landis behind them, Tour organisers again found themselves having to contend daily with the issue.The feel-good factor generated by the race’s July 7 start in London, England – watched by millions of fans – quickly faded.A split emerged as Tour organisers blamed the sport’s governing body, the UCI, for not telling them that Rasmussen had missed doping tests.The organisers said they would have prevented him from taking the start had they known.Some newspapers in France declared the Tour dead and said that it should be suspended until the sport cleans up.Tour officials have been looking to the younger generation in the hope these riders have been less influenced by the doping rife in the late 1990s.Riders in their 20s – not in their 30s like Vinokourov and Rasmussen – swept the Tour’s top honours.The winner of the polka-dot jersey given to the King of the Mountains was Juan Mauricio Soler of Colombia, aged 24.It was his first Tour.Tom Boonen of Belgium, 28, earned his first green jersey as the best sprinter in four Tour appearances.Bennati, who also won a stage on Thursday, is 26 – and said he wept after winning the sprint on the Champs-Elysees.”Winning here, the last stage, is a dream – I still can’t believe it,” Bennati said.”I am very, very happy …My career starts today.”Nampa-AP