SPAIN: CYCLING/CYCLE RACING: Town of Pinto celebrates as Contador is crowned Tour de France champion

The jubilation over Alberto Contador's win of the Tour de France was intense in his home town in the Madrid suburbs, Pinto, on Sunday (July 29). He won the Tour de France by 23 seconds from Australian Cadel Evans with Discovery Channel team mate Levi Leipheimer of the United States in third. Hundreds of excited fans celebrated the conquest by 24-year-old Contador of the cycling world's top event - despite the fact that the 94th edition of the Tour was marred by doping scandals. Contador took the yellow jersey after previous race leader Michael Rasmussen was dismissed by his team for lying about his whereabouts during training. The Spaniard's good friend and schoolmate Angel Humanes said that Contador was realistic about the circumstances. "I know Alberto very well and I know for a fact that he would have liked to earned it on the road, fighting it -that's the way Alberto is, all full of courage, someone who likes things done the right way. It couldn't be that way but he was right there on the second position, a place that's his in its own right, he's fought for it. We are extremely happy and waiting for him here," he said. Contador, who received the visit on Saturday (July 28) of seven-times Tour winner and former Discovery Channel leader Lance Armstrong, became the first Spaniard to win the world's greatest race since Miguel Indurain's fifth victory in 1995. Even though Contador is reluctant to draw comparisons with seven-times champion Lance Armstrong, who ended his career in 2005 with the Discovery Channel team, he said he had been inspired by the American. Armstrong survived testicular cancer before powering to seven consecutive Tour victories from 1999 onwards. Three years ago, Alberto Contador was in a coma with swelling to the brain after crashing in a race. But on Sunday, the Spaniard woke up in a dream. "I'm superproud of him, specially after what he's been through with the surgery and all. He's worked hard for this and he deserves the win- so young, I'm so proud, I love it!," Contador's cousin Leticia said. When lying in his hospital bed, Contador read Armstrong's book "It's not about the bike: My journey back to Life", in which he explains how he fought his illness. Contador also became the first mere climber to prevail on the roads of France since Italian Marco Pantani in 1998. Discovery Channel team manager Johan Bruyneel said he was proud to add an eighth Tour de France victory through his Spanish prodigy. Contador's sister, Alicia, the only close family member not in Paris, said she's sure the hero is not yet aware of his great deeds. "His dream was to be part of professional cycling, then to run the tour, and a much far-fetched dream to win it. But the victory came now, kind of unexpectedly -I believe even for him because I don' think he realizes what he has just achieved, this is big, really big," she said. Contador was implicated in the blood doping scandal that erupted last year in Spain, known as Operation Puerto. He was cleared by the International Cycling Union (UCI) and has said he is ready to give a sample of his DNA to prove his innocence.

ITN Source | July 30, 2007

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