Froome is set to become the first rider to defend the Tour title since Miguel Indurain won the last of his five straight titles in 1995.
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Much of the penultimate 146.5km stage from Megeve was played out in heavy rain but Froome, who crashed on Friday’s stage to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc, was able to avoid late drama after dominating this Tour.
Froome’s lead over Romain Bardet of four minutes five seconds will not be tested on the final stage in Paris.
Spanish rider Jon Izagirre won the rainy penultimate stage by attacking on the slippery descent from the Col de Joux Plane into Morzine.
Up until 2016 our team’s focus in the Tour has been on stage wins and attention on the overall has been something that’s existed only in forecast projections with the young talent that we have spent our resources scouting.
“I’m OK, I’m lucky nothing is seriously injured – I’ve just lost a bit of skin and banged my knee a bit”.
Movistar’s Nairo Quintana, who pulled clear of the ailing Froome in the last part of the climb, is third, a further 16 seconds back.
“I maintained the white jersey and I’m super happy with that”.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme said watching Team Sky was “like watching Paris St Germain, they are so powerful, they always win the championship”.
“It is ironic really as I was just trying to stay up front”, Froome said of the crash.
Froome came in 36 seconds back on Bardet, flanked by team-mate Wout Poels, who produced a stunning effort on the first category Le Bettex to nurse his team leader home.
“I’ve won it three times and I can’t say the novelty is wearing off”.
Fortunately his Sky team-mate, Geraint Thomas, was riding alongside and immediately swapped bikes with…
All nine Sky riders finished the stage, with the strength of Froome’s team key to his victory. “Yesterday I had my only real bad day and I saved myself pretty well”.
Froome will next head to the Rio Olympics, where he is expected to compete in the time-trial event.
Sunday’s Stage 21: The Tour ends with a 70-mile, largely ceremonial leg from Chantilly to Paris, ending on the Champs-Elysees.
Dutchman Bauke Mollema, who started the day in second place overall, also crashed and eventually lost a massive 4:25.
“We’ll be there about a week before the race to start training a bit more again”, Froome said. “Hopefully, I’m going to rely on my teammates and just have one last push to get through [the] stage”.
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Pole Rafal Majka virtually secured the polka dot jersey for the mountain classification when he was first at the top of the Montee de Bisanne, a 12.4km climb averaging 8.2 per cent.
