AUDIE CORNISH, Host: Unidentified Announcer: (Foreign language spoken)</s>ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: For the third time, Spanish rider Alberto Contador stood at the top of the Tour de France podium and savored his victory.</s>ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: Unidentified Announcer: (Foreign language spoken)</s>ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: Juan Carlos Perez traveled from Madrid with his wife and three children.</s>JUAN CARLOS PEREZ: You've got your Armstrong, with the seven times. We got Contador. He's going to beat Armstrong. This guy is going to make eight or nine Tour de France. Wait and see. Vive EspaÃÂ±a.</s>ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: Unidentified Announcer: (Foreign language spoken)</s>ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: Unidentified Announcer: (Foreign language spoken).</s>ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: Sports announcers paid tribute to Armstrong today, and Armstrong himself said he never felt the love of fans like he did this year.</s>ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: Frenchman Giselain Desainvalle has just purchased a yellow Livestrong bracelet. He says he admires Armstrong's cancer fight.</s>GISELAIN DESAINVALLE: (Through translator) And it's because of him that I started following the Tour de France. He's a star and an icon. If the Tour is known throughout the world, it's thanks to Lance Armstrong, and everyone agrees with that.</s>ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.
The Tour De France saw the end of the Lance Armstrong era, and possibly the start of a new one. Alberto Contador of Spain won the race Sunday for the third time in four years. The victory did not come easy and spurred what could be the next great rivalry in cycling, as Contador barely held off his main competition, Andy Schleck, who crossed the finish line a mere 39 seconds later.