Paris - Alberto Contador of Spain on Sunday won the 94th Tour de France by one of the smallest margins of victory in the history of the race. The 24-year-old rider for the Discovery Channel team beat Australian Ccadel Evans by 23 seconds, with his American team-mate Levi Leipheimer in third place, only 31 seconds adrift.
The smallest-ever winning margin of victory in the Tour was eight seconds, by American Greg Lemond over French rider Laurent Fignon, in 1989.
In a race plagued by reports of doping, it was almost fitting that Contador inherited the race lead - and, it turned out, the championship - when former race leader Michael Rasmussen was booted out of the Tour for having lied to avoid two out-of-competition drug tests.
The Spaniard ensured his victory in Saturday's time trial, in which he finished fifth.
Sunday's closing stage was, as is traditional, a ceremonial parade that ended with a mass sprint on the Champs Elysees in the French capital.
It was won by Italian Daniele Bennati, for his second stage victory of this year's Tour.
He raced the 146 kilometres from Marcoussis, which included nine circuits of the Champs Elysees, in 3 hours 51:03 minutes, a relatively leisurely pace of 37.91 kph.
