MADRID, July 27, 2009 (AFP) – Spain’s press hailed Alberto Contador as a “king” on Monday after the 26-year-old won the Tour de France for the second time after an intense rivalry with his Astana team-mate 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 on Sunday as Armstrong looked on beside him on the podium.

“This is the second Tour of the fittest,” the newspaper added.

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”.

Contador, the winner of the 2007 Tour, was locked into a duel with his US team-mate Armstrong, a seven-time champion, for much of the race, raising tensions between the two. Armstrong finished the Tour in third place.

The Spaniard took control of the Tour in the final week in the Alps leading to a fourth straight win of the cycling race by a Spaniard.

Oscar Pereiro won the Tour in 2006 and Carlos Sastre in 2008.

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.

The newspaper also called the accidental playing of the Danish national anthem when Contador stepped up to the podium as an “unforgivable mistake”.

Tour organizers correctly played Spain’s anthem when Contador’s Astana team was recognized on the podium.