Spain hails Contador, 'king of Tour de France'

• Source: Global Times
• [22:09 July 27 2009]
• Comments

Alberto Contador is wrapped in a Spanish flag during his honor lap on the famous Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris. Photo: AFP

Spain’s Secretary of State for Sport Jaime Lissavetzky hailed Alberto Contador’s win of the Tour de France Sunday, saying the 26-year-old had proven himself as a “real champion”.

“I am really happy because Contador won a very difficult Tour and it is the second Tour which he has won,” Spanish media quoted Lissavetzky as saying in Paris where he watched Contador cross the finish line.

“He fought under conditions which were not the most adequate to face a race such as this one. For this reason I feel enormous satisfaction. It is not just a question of legs but also of mind, and Contador was a real champion,” he added.

Spain’s press hailed Contador as a “king” yesterday after the 26-year-old won the Tour for the second time after an intense rivalry with his Astana teammate Lance Armstrong.

“The new king of the Tour is called Contador,” top-selling daily El Pais wrote on its front page, below a picture of a smiling Contador receiving his trophy as Armstrong looked on beside him on the podium.

Catalan daily La Vanguardia called Contador “the king of Paris”, adding he is “amongst the best riders in history”, while sports daily Marca and Publico said the rider had been “crowned for the second time in Paris”.

Daily ABC said Contador “celebrated his second Tour isolated by his team, that of Armstrong, who climbed up to the podium with the most serious of expressions”.

The view was shared by Marca which said the rider won the tour “against everyone” and has become the new “boss” of world cycling.

Several hundred people watched Contador win the 2009 Tour in his hometown of Pinto, south of Madrid, on a large television screen set up outdoors by local officials.

The cyclists will be welcomed back to Madrid by the president of the Madrid regional government, Esperanza Aguirre, before heading to Pinto where a celebration is planned.

Agencies