Britain’s Chris Froome won his third Tour de France on Sunday, July 24, to confirm his status as one of the all-time greats on the world’s most grueling race.
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Sunday’s final stage was won by Andre Greipel of Lotto-Soudal.
“This tour has obviously taken place against the backdrop of awful events in Nice and we pay our respect again to those who lost their lives”, Froome said of the recent incident in which a man killed 84 people when he drove a truck through a Bastille Day crowd on the seafront at the Riviera city. Rolling on the Champs-Elysees is the same, it’s an wonderful feeling. It feels like a privilege to be in this position.
“I’ve always had my teammates around me”.
Chris Froome is racing on to Paris to claim his third Tour de France title – and Team Sky indulged in a bit of showboating for the cameras.
But while Froome’s success has hogged the headlines, he was far from the only Brit to shine in La Grosse Boucle.
“Chris Froome has been the outstanding rider in the peloton again this year and has earned every inch of the praise that will come his way today”.
Froome also plans to ride in the time trial, which could be wide open if Dutchman Tom Dumoulin – who suffered a fracture in his wrist during the Tour – is unable to compete.
“Of course these kinds of events put sport into perspective, but they also show why the values of sport are so important to free society”. “Kellan, I dedicate this victory to you”, Froome said from the winner’s podium. Britain’s Adam Yates was fourth, 3:29 behind.
“It’s amazing, amazing”, he was quoted as saying by the Tour de France website. It’s only my second attempt. “My joy is enormous, for me and for the team, but I’m yet to realise what happened”.
He then flies to Brazil, where he will attempt to win both the Olympic road race and the time trial.
Before he left though, the Dimension Data rider won an incredible four stages to move second overall on 30 – only Merckx has won more with 34.
He crashed twice, made a daring attack at breakneck speed on a rapid decent, tamed the crosswinds and most memorably found himself running to the finish line on one stage after his bike was broken in a collision with a motorcycle. And without question he entered the race this year as the absolute favorite to win, but what may have been the most surprising development was just how incredibly dominant he was from start to finish in the race.
Team Sky trio Geraint Thomas, Luke Rowe and Ian Stannard all rode selflessly to help Froome win the race.
Plenty of credit for Froome’s victory must go to his team and metronomic support riders. However, it was his unerring consistency in the stages between that extended his lead and kept the likes of Bardet and Quintana at bay.
That exploit reminded him of “when I was small with my bike going full gas on the descent in Kenya”.
What happened to his expected rivals?
With a four-minute advantage in his pocket he was able to sit up and enjoy the moment with his team-mates, conceding time in the final metres to leave him with a final winning margin of two minutes and 52 seconds over Frenchman Romain Bardet. Alberto Contador crashes on the first two days while Richie Porte also loses ground.
Warren Barguil was the most disappointing, failing to keep up with the best in the mountains after being tipped as at least a potential top 10 finisher.
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Who won the other jerseys? The world champion can do everything – except challenge the best climbers in the high mountains.
