Alberto Contador's win in the Tour of Spain on Sunday confirmed him as the world's top stage racer after his victories in the 2007 Tour de France and this year's Giro d'Italia. Born 25 years ago in Pinto, a dormitory town near Madrid, Contador first got serious about bike racing aged 15 when his brother Fran, an amateur racer, lent him a bike. Convinced of his own potential, Contador packed in his university studies and rode as an amateur with the prestigious Iberdrola squad. Contador's climbing skills as a young rider earned him the nickname Pantani, after the Italian winner of the Tour de France in 1998, Marco Pantani. He showed all-round talent when he took his first professional win in 2003, the time-trial stage of the Tour of Poland. Contador's career took a setback in 2004 when he suffered a cavernoma - a vascular disorder in the brain - and needed six months to recover. Back on the bike in January 2005, Contador rode his first Tour de France the same year, finishing 31st. Contador's team was barred from the 2006 Tour because of the Operacion Puerto anti-doping investigation. The rider himself was cleared of any wrongdoing. In the 2007 Tour, after taking a mountain-top stage win in the Pyrenees, Contador inherited the yellow jersey when Dane Michael Rasmussen was kicked out of the race. The Spaniard proved himself a worthy winner when he defended his lead in the final time trial against Australian Cadel Evans, and clinched his first victory in a three-week stage race. After signing for Astana in 2008, Contador once more was barred from riding the Tour because of doping scandals in the Kazakh team dating from 2007. When Astana was given a last-minute invitation to the Giro in May, the Spaniard bounced back with a stunning victory in cycling's second biggest stage race. Contador's win in the Tour of Spain four months later makes him the fifth rider and first Spaniard to take all three major Tours. Only Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault of France, Eddy Merckx of Belgium and Felice Gimondi of Italy have pulled off the so
