The Spaniard benefited from the doping scandals that knocked several riders out of the race during its three weeks.

Tour de France winner Alberto Contador of Spain, center in yellow jersey, reacts on the podium after the 20th and last stage of the 94th Tour de France cycling race between Marcoussis, southwest of Paris, and Paris, Sunday, July 29, 2007. Alberto Contador won his first Tour de France on Sunday, as Daniele Bennati of Italy won the stage. The Arc de Triomphe monument is seen in background. Paris mayor Bertrand delanoe, left, talks with London mayor Ken Livingstone, second left.[Reuters]

Had Dane Michael Rasmussen not been sacked by his Rabobank team for lying about his training whereabouts, the 24-year-old Discovery Channel rider would probably have had to be content with second place overall.

Rasmussen , who denied the allegations from his team, had also received two warnings from the International Cycling Union (UCI) before the start of the Tour for failing to provide the sport's governing body with his personal schedule.

Riders have to do so in order for random out-of-competition tests to be conducted.

Pre-race favourite Alexander Vinokourov was also sent packing after testing positive for blood doping following his victory in last weekend's time trial in Albi.

Although the Kazakh was out of overall contention, his Astana team quit the Tour after being invited to do so by organisers Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) which left Andreas Kloeden's title aspirations in tatters.

The German had been fifth overall and within striking distance of Contador. The Cofidis team followed Astana out of the Tour after their rider Cristian Moreni tested positive for testosterone.

'SWEET SUPRISE'

"It is a sweet surprise for me to be in this position," Contador said after his stage win at the Plateau-de-Beille made him Rasmussen's biggest rival.

"The tactics now are to stay with Rasmussen, who is really strong, and as soon as I can, I will have to attack him," he added at the time.

However, as it turned out, Contador did not have to attack too much.

The Spaniard's hardest day on the Tour came in Saturday's decisive time trial, a 55.5-km ride from Cognac to Angouleme.

After starting with an advantage of one minute and 50 seconds over Australian Cadel Evans, Contador was on the verge of cracking midway through the stage.

But he hung on to hold off the challenge of Evans and team mate Levi Leipheimer to keep the coveted yellow jersey by 23 seconds -- the second slimmest winning margin behind Greg LeMond's eight-second victory over Laurent Fignon in 1989.