Tour de France champion can't escape, spotlight, allegations.

Byline: Bill Reiter

Sep. 13--CLINTON, Mo. -- They waited patiently for nearly an hour to see him, standing in a cluster around the RV, clutching photographs that showed his young, handsome face.

One by one, his teammates from the Discovery Channel cycling team opened the door Wednesday morning and waded into the crowd. Each time brought applause. Nearly every cyclist signed autographs. Each brought a slight surge from the crowd and then, no, it wasn't him, and the crowd relaxed.

Finally, Alberto Contador emerged -- short, skinny, with boyish good looks, dark eyes and his accomplishment following him like a halo: This was the winner of this year's Tour De France. This was a true champion, here in a small Missouri town, standing right in front of them.

"How are you?" he asked quietly, and the crowd pressed toward him -- hands thrust photos to be signed, arms clutched carefully at his sleeve, strangers put their arms around him and said, "A quick photo, Alberto. Please?"

The 24-year-old Spaniard shouldn't even have been here, not like this, not embraced near the Daylight Donuts during a race he's unlikely to win. He's lucky to be alive, let alone the reigning Tour de France champion.

"He was involved in a crash (three) years ago that resulted in a hematoma on his brain. He went into convulsions. It was life and death," said Dave Towle, the Tour of Missouri's announcer. "It looked like he'd be lucky to be a normal human being again, let alone ride this successfully, let alone win. It's a true miracle what he's done."