New Delhi: The controversy-ridden Tour de France is finally over and Spaniard Alberto Contador is the new champion. He is the youngest tour winner since Jan Ulrich in 1997.
The final 146-kilometer stretch from Marcoussis to Paris was uneventful and the action kicked off towards the end as the peloton approached the finish line.
Italy's Daniele Bennati took the final stage win but the man of the moment was 24-year-old Contador.
The Discovery Channel cyclist finished 23 seconds ahead of Australian Cadel Evans in just his second tour while American team-mate Levi Leipheimer finished third.
Contador was handed the yellow jersey as a result of the then tour leader Michael Rasmussen being thrown out by his team on dope related charges.
Contador also won the white jersey which is given to the best young rider.
"I want to say thank you to everyone who contributed to this event and today I am the happiest man in the world. And that's it really, I just want to enjoy this time. Thank you very much," Contador said after his Tour victory.
The win was doubly sweet for Contador who had collapsed with a brain aneurism during a race in Spain in 2004. Only an emergency surgery saved him from possible brain damage.
He was a big surprise as not many saw in him a winner though he was thought to be very promising.
However, the expulsion of Rasmussen and another favourite Alexander Vinokourov of teh Astana team saw Contador emerging as the frontrunner.
Even seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong could not stop praising Contador and said that the world has perhaps seen the "future of Spanish cycling and perhaps international cycling".
Contador eclipsed the leader of his Discovery team, American Levi Leipheimer, who finished third. Contador was the youngest champion since Jan Ullrich of Germany in 1997, and the first Spaniard to win since the last of Miguel Indurain's five titles in 1995.
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