Froome seals Tour de France title
Last Updated: 30/07/16 4:54pm
Chris Froome has been crowned the winner of the 2016 Tour de France, taking his third victory in the prestigious Grand Tour, and Team Sky's fourth.
Chris Froome has been crowned the winner of the 2016 Tour de France, taking his third victory in the prestigious Grand Tour, and Team Sky's fourth.
Crossing the line flanked by his team-mates after 21 days of racing, Froome capped a momentous performance to write another page in the history of Team Sky and British cycling.
Claiming the yellow jersey by an eventual winning margin of four minutes and five seconds, Froome laid the foundations for victory during an attentive opening week, before snatching the lead with a daring late downhill dig on stage eight into Bagneres-de-Luchon.
Surviving a well-publicised scare while attacking on Mont Ventoux, Froome rebounded to pad out his advantage in the mountains, and in the race's two time trials, the second of which brought another victory on stage 18.
Despite a late crash on a slick Alpine descent with two days to go, Froome came home a dominant winner, backed up by an equally dominant eight Team Sky team-mates and staff.
The race culminated as ever with the famous run into Paris, taking in triumphant circuits of the Champs-Elysees and a bunch sprint eventually won by Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal).
Teamwork makes the dream work
The team's seventh Tour de France marked the first time all nine riders had finished together in Paris, and they did so decked out in custom yellow Rapha kit.
Sergio Henao, Wout Poels and Mikel Nieve have combined to form a superb triple threat in the high mountains, setting a searing tempo and chasing down attacks, all the while looking after the interests of Froome.
Mikel Landa and Vasil Kiryienka also put in huge mountain shifts, in addition to exemplary domestique work. Embodying that team spirit was Geraint Thomas, who again rode a mightily impressive race, and famously gave up his bike for Froome in the shadow of Mont Blanc.
Ian Stannard battled back from a hard crash on stage 12 to support Froome every step of the way, with Luke Rowe again demonstrating an old head on young shoulders as road captain, combining with Stannard to grind out kilometre after kilometre on the front.
Rowe particularly enjoyed the run for home, attacking briefly alongside Poels and bridging to the day's breakaway with 18km to go.
"Vive Le Tour"
In a moving speech on the podium in Paris, Froome paid tribute to his teammates, his growing family and everyone affected by the tragic Nice attacks which took place during the race.
He said: "To my teammates and support team - this is your yellow jersey too. I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for your commitment and sacrifice.
"A massive thank you to Dave Brailsford, and my coach Tim Kerrison. This is one special team - and I'm so proud to be a part of it!
"To Michelle my wife and my son Kellan - your love and support make everything possible. Kellan, I dedicate this victory to you.
"This tour has obviously taken place against the backdrop of terrible events in Nice, and we pay our respects once again to those who have lost their lives in this terrible event. Of course these kind of events put sport into perspective, but they also show why the values of sport are so important to free society.
"We all love the Tour de France because it's unpredictable, but we love the Tour more for what stays the same. The passion of the fans from every nation along the roadside, the beauty of the French countryside, and the bonds of friendship created through sport. These things will never change.
"Vive Le Tour, et Vive La France!"
Team Principal Sir Dave Brailsford was understandably thrilled, and called the race the most enjoyable Tour to date.
"It's very satisfying, I'm very happy, and this was by far the most enjoyable Tour I think we've done," he admitted. "We raced differently, we used a different, more effective offensive set of tactics - it was fun, it was racing - and as always you get to this point, you get to Paris, you see the Union Jacks and you feel proud.
"It's a British success story I'd like to think and the team was perfect. It's the best team performance we've put together. Chris was brilliant, so overall it's been a great three weeks. We'll come back and do it again next year!"
