Riis Wins Title to End Indurain’s Streak at Five

As thousands of his fellow Danes cheered wildly, Bjarne Riis won his first Tour de France on Sunday, ending Spaniard Miguel Indurain’s bid for an unprecedented sixth consecutive victory.

“It’s the biggest thing in my whole life,” Riis said. “Everything went perfect for me in the Tour.”

But he won’t get time to rest.

“Now Atlanta will be the next big thing,” he said of his trip today to the Olympics.

Italy’s Fabio Baldato won the final stage. After a 92-mile sprint from Palaiseau to Paris, the cyclists sped eight laps in front of hundreds of thousands of fans on the Champs Elysees in downtown Paris.

Riis won his first Tour with the help of his strong Telekom team and aggressive attacks in the climbing stages. He won two climbing stages, and finished second in another.

Germany’s Jan Ullrich, 22, also of the Telekom team, finished second overall, just 1:41 behind Riis.

Indurain finished 11th overall.

Americans fared poorly in this year’s Tour. Lance Armstrong pulled out during the sixth stage, and George Hincapie left after crashing in the 14th stage.

Only Frankie Andreu of Dearborn, Mich., completed the race, finishing 111th at 2:48:45 back.