World champion Peter Sagan won a fifth straight green jersey, showing he need not be able to beat pure sprinters in a dash to the line to dominate the jersey designed for them.
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Chris Froome established himself as the best road rider of his generation on Sunday as he became only the seventh rider to win three general classification titles at the Tour de France.
Seizing the opportunity to cement that thawing of relations, Froome paid special tribute to the French this year and particularly to the victims of the Nice terror attack.
“We all love the Tour de France because it’s unpredictable but we love the Tour more for what stays the same; the passion from the fans from every nation along the roadside, the beauty of the French countryside, and the bonds of friendship”.
Team Sky’s leader then thanked the French public for heaping kindness upon him this year rather than abuse and innuendo, at what he acknowledged was “a hard time” for the country.
Froome is there after once more taking his body to an extraordinary level during the past three weeks. But this is another stage win at the Tour de France.
Froome survived two crashes and even a jog up a mountain road on the way to his third title.
“This is also for Michelle and my son Kellan and Kellan: this victory is for you”.
Then it was time for the traditional flute of champagne.
Froome ended up 2 minutes, 52 seconds ahead of Bardet, while Nairo Quintana of Colombia finished third overall, 3:08 back. Chris running up the Ventoux in the yellow jersey, without a bike, wasn’t something we had in mind.
Other than the Games, though, Froome said there is no point expecting him to start branching out from his specialities as the Tour remains for him the be all and end all.
Once Cavendish left the race to focus on the Olympics, Sagan, who would also be named most combative rider of the Tour, had no competition. “It’s beyond what I’ve ever dreamed”.
Things got more hectic once the race entered the Champs Elysees, the bunch even splitting in the finale as a reduced peloton contested the sprint finish.
Froome’s victories in 2013 and 2015 came in the shadow of Armstrong’s unravelling lies and Froome faced endless questions and speculation, often of the plain idle variety, about his own performances.
The chaos might have cost him his third Tour title, until the race jury intervened.
“Whether I can be a Grand Tour contender and target the win we’ll have to wait and see”.
Superior in descent and on the flat, Froome then crushed all the rest on the 13th stage time-trial and took his gap out to minutes rather than seconds.
Froome rode a yellow bike to go with his yellow jersey, helmet, gloves and shoes.
Chris Froome comes through the early stages much better than his main rivals.
“The atmosphere on the roads has been fantastic”, Froome said.
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“There’s no way anyone can say the racing style is boring and predictable as they have in the past”, he said. But he lauded Tour organizers for deciding to keep the race going.
