The 31-year-old was crowned Tour champion in Paris on Sunday to become only the eighth rider in history, and the first Briton, to seal victory in the race three times. First, three-time time trial world champion Tony Martin abandoned the race due to a left-knee injury, then Marcel Kittel, the sprinter who won Stage 4, had a mechanical problem and dropped behind as he was forced to change bikes.
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Froome moved to within two overall wins of Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain, who each won five Tours, while the disgraced Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven for doping.
After holding off the challenge of Quintana and surprise challengers Bauke Mollema and Yates in the Swiss Alps on stage 17, Froome won the second individual time trial to build a commanding lead of nearly four minutes. “Viva le Tour. Vive le France”. “There wasn’t too many challenges for me to overcome other than I couldn’t get down my lane (where he lived) for a couple of days”, the 36-year-old said.
“I think it’s a course (in Rio) that suits me well, there’s nearly a thousand meters of climbing and it’s nearly 60 kilometers in length”, said Froome, who will also compete in the road race in Rio.
But when he underperformed in the Tour de Suisse in June, Team Sky made a decision to switch him back to his usual role in support of Froome.
Yates not only won the race for the best rider under the age of 25, he also finished fourth overall in only his second Tour.
“I feel so privileged to be in this position where I’ve always had teammates around me in the race”, Froome said.
And Wiggins advised Froome just to let his legs do the talking.
Meanwhile, another crash on the 146 kilometer stretch of road between Albertville and Saint-Gervais-les-Bains on stage 19, saw Team Sky teammate, Geraint Thomas, selflessly give Froome his bike to enable him to push on and increase his overall lead.
Froome lost time on today’s processional into Paris but that was because of the now traditional roll over the line arm-in-arm with his team-mates.
But this is another stage win at the Tour de France.
The Vuelta takes place from 20 August to 11 September on a mountainous route containing 10 summit finishes.
“I think it’s probably harder for him this time”. “I’ve done a lot in terms of offering up my physiological data and trying to be open to people as much as I can while protecting a competitive advantage at the same time”.
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Tom Dumoulin, the favourite for gold in the Rio time trial, broke his arm in a crash on Stage 19 of the Tour, though the Dutchman is still hoping to compete in Brazil.
