Vintage champion, Bjarne Riis
Cycling's greatest race is over and Bjarne Riis of Denmark, with his unrelenting attacks in the mountains and firm control of the peloton, proved he deserves the accolades that come with the Tour de France.

After riding 3,764 kilometers (2,333 miles) over 21 stages across five countries, Riis rode into the City of Light Sunday as the king of the cycling world and easily the hero of Denmark.

"It's the biggest thing in my whole life," said Riis, who was in tears after the race. "Everything went perfect for me in the Tour. Everything was good and now Atlanta will be the next big thing."

Riis will be among professional cyclists competing in the Olympics for the first time in the road race July 31 and the individual time trial August 3. Riis took several victory laps on the Champs-Elysees following the race, waving a large Danish flag and acknowledging thousands of Danish fans.

"This is a fantastic day for me," said Riis. "This is the greatest day of my life."

Thousands of Danes lined the course as the peloton took eight laps on the Champs-Elysees past some of Paris's enduring landmarks. Many painted their faces with Denmark's national colors, while others waved flags and banners. All of them were cheering for Riis, the first Dane to win the Tour.

"This is the biggest thing in Denmark. Riis is a hero," said Kim Knudsen, who flew with 50 other cycling fans on a chartered flight out of Copenhagen Sunday morning.

They paid $350 for the two-hour flight to Paris. They arrived at 10 a.m., went straight to the Champs-Elysees to stake out their spots within eyeshot of the Arc de Triumphe and will return at 8 p.m. back to Denmark.

Sunday's race was for Riis as scripted by his Telekom teammates. There was no Hamlet-esque doubt. The blond Dane rode with conviction from the start. The 32-year-old, who finished third behind Miguel Indurain (Banesto) last year, had a strong supporting cast. His team controlled the peloton across the flats, letting Riis do his work in the mountains.

Riis took the yellow jersey during July 8's weather-shortened stage and never lost it. He won that stage, controlled the lead across France's Massif Central and then went on to win the first Pyrenees climbing stage and finish second in Wednesday's epic battle across the Pyrenees when he gapped would-be challengers by eight minutes.

Finishing second behind Riis was German wunderkind Jan Ullrich. At only 22 years old, the former world amateur champion stayed with Riis in the mountains and won Saturday's time trial, beating Spain's Indurain at his own game.

France's Richard Virenque won his third straight climber's jersey and managed to hang on to finish third overall, the first Frenchman to finish among the top three since Laurent Fignon was second to American Greg LeMond in 1989.

Five-time defending champion Indurain failed in his bid to become the first man to win six Tours. After winning five straight, Indurain was back on planet Earth with a mortal 11th-place finish at 14 minutes and 14 seconds back. Indurain, who turned 32 the day before he rode into Pamplona as a national hero on Wednesday, confirmed Saturday evening after conferring with team doctors he will compete in the Olympics.

Riis frustrated his would-be challengers throughout the race. France's Laurent Jalabert pulled out after his poor finish at Les Arcs. World road race champion Abraham Olano of Spain and Mapei-GB teammate Tony Rominger of Switzerland were second and third behind Riis before Wednesday's stage over the Pyrenees.

By the end of the day, the pair had fallen to ninth and 10th place, and Ullrich and Virenque had moved up to take their places on the podium.

The Americans also fared poorly in this year's Tour. Lance Armstrong pulled out during the first week and George Hincapie quit the race following a tough fall in the Tour's second week. Only Frankie Andreu finished the race.

And the Motorola team didn't fare well. Coming into the Tour ranked as the fifth-best team in the world, no Motorolans won a stage, though Frenchman Bruno Thibout and Laurent Madouas and Andreu were in the hunt in some of the later stages.

(Rumors are flying about a new team sponsor, but there's still no official word from team management.)

Before Riis could take the podium, there was one more stage to finish, and like any Tour race, things were interesting from the start.

Rolling out of Palaiseu, a suburb south of Paris, the peloton started slowly, taking a slow pace over the first 40 kilometers. Racers were joking, talking, and acknowledging the crowd.

Third-place finisher Richard Virenque roared into Paris first. He broke away and absorbed the cheers from the crowd.

Frankie Andreu, the only one of three Americans to finish the Tour this year, went out with Mapei-GB's Johan Museeuw and held a small gap on the first of eight laps on the Champs-Elysees. They were absorbed by the peloton when teammate Flavio Vanzella, Italy's Massimo Podenzana, Andrea Tafi, and the Ukraine's Andrei Tchmil pulled ahead until the final kilometer.

The peloton charged ahead for their final chance at a field sprint, with Italy's Fabio Baldato (MG-Technogym) edging French sprinter Frederic Moncassin to win his third career Tour stage win.

Stage results

Andrew Hood, Jim Schnebly, and Andy Dahlstrom are on the road, providing up-to-the-minute updates from the Tour de France