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Chris Froome promises Tour de France victory 'will stand the test of time'

Image: Chris Froome used his victory speech to hail a new era of clean cycling

Chris Froome promised that his Tour de France victory "will stand the test of time" after becoming the first winner of the yellow jersey since the Lance Armstrong scandal.

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As Froome collected the yellow jersey he was already plotting a way to follow it with the rainbow stripes of the world champion. Froome's entire season has been designed around the Tour de France but with victory secured he is now planning to take a run at September's world championship road race in Florence, acutely aware that a course so favourable to climbers like himself comes around only so often. "I want to try to stay on it, to see the season through and not just switch off after the Tour," Froome said. "I'd like to get through to the World Championships because it's an event that doesn't often favour climbers the way it does this year. It's a great opportunity to go for it." Chances to win the worlds may be only occasional for climbers, but chances to complete Tour and world doubles are even rarer - only five men have ever done it, with Greg Lemond the last in 1989. Tom Simpson and Mark Cavendish are the only two Britons to have won the World Championship road race, and this is an opportunity for Froome to put himself in elite company at an event which is expected to see Sir Bradley Wiggins contest the time trial. "It would be amazing," Froome added. "My focus has just been on the Tour up until now but being world champ, that's probably the second biggest thing after wearing the yellow jersey." "I think the important thing for Froomie is that he doesn't stop," said Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford. "You can't keep the same intensity in life no matter what you do. Everything ebbs and flows, you've got to recognise that and manage it. "In terms of managing this success, I think he's doing absolutely the right thing to stick to a game plan, because it gives him structure. "And I think if you stop you don't have any structure. Everything that has got him here is discipline and structure. If you take that away, you kind of lose your way."

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