Yahoo – AFP,
CHESTERMAN, Jul 23, 2017
Great Britain's Chris Froome (C) flashes victory signs during the twenty-first and last stage of the Tour de France on July 23, 2017 (AFP Photo/Jeff PACHOUD) |
Paris (AFP)
- Briton Chris Froome secured his fourth Tour de France title at the end of the
21st and final stage won by Dylan Groenewegen on Sunday and said it was a huge
honour to be amongst cycling's greats.
Sky's
Froome had previously won the 2013, 2015 and 2016 editions and sits fifth
overall in the all-time list of Tour victors behind five-time winners Eddy
Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
"It's
a huge honour to be talked about in the same sentence as those guys with their
place in the history of the Tour de France," 32-year-old Froome, who will
aim to match them next year, told ITV4.
"It is
just a privilege to even be in the position to be going for that kind of
record.
"Each
time I've won the Tour it's so unique and so different and it is such a
different battle to get to this moment.
"So
they're all special in their own ways and this year I think will be remembered
for being the closest and most hard-fought battle between the GC rivals."
At the end
of three weeks, 21 stages and more than 3,500km, Froome rolled over the line on
the Champs Elysees in Paris with a broad grin alongside his Sky team-mates, who
wore a special kit for the occasion with their usual blue stripe replaced by a
yellow one.
A look at
the record of multiple Tour de France winner Chris Froome
(AFP Photo/Paul
DEFOSSEUX)
|
It was
Froome's closest Tour struggle yet as his final winning margin was less than a
minute for the first time, Colombia's Rigoberto Uran finishing second at 54sec
with Romain Bardet of France, the runner-up last year, third at 2min 20sec.
The 103km
final stage began with a nod to history in Montgeron, where the very first
stage of the inaugural Tour in 1903 also began, at a leisurely pace giving
Froome, his team-mates and the winners of the other distinctive jerseys the
chance to celebrate with glasses of champagne as they rode out of the town and
towards the French capital.
By the time
they got there the tempo had risen to the opposite scale of the spectrum and it
was a full pelt bunch that rode to the finish, where 24-year-old Groenewegen
struck out for home from a long way out and held off the hard-charging Andre
Greipel, winner on the Champs Elysees in the previous two years, with Edvald
Boasson Hagen third.
'Perfect'
"This
is an amazing place for the sprinters. To win on the Champs-Elysees makes it a
perfect day," said Dutchman Groenewegen of the Lotto NL Jumbo team.
"This
is my first stage win at the Tour. When I was young, I was looking at the
Champs-Elysees stage on TV. Now I'm the winner here, it's wonderful."
It was the
biggest victory of Groenewegen's young career but the day undoubtedly belonged
to Froome.
"It
feels amazing. The Champs Elysees never disappoints, it's something
magical," said Froome.
"When
you've spent three weeks thinking about being here in this moment, it is so
rewarding every time."
Alongside
the yellow jersey winner, Australia's Michael Matthews won the sprinters' green
points jersey, France's Warren Barguil triumphed in the polkadot king of the
mountains competition and Simon Yates of Britain succeeded twin brother Adam as
the best young rider in the white jersey.
Froome's
Sky finished as the best team having claimed the yellow helmets on the first
stage in Dusseldorf three weeks ago and never relinquished their lead in the
competition, which they won for the first time despite claiming the yellow
jersey in five of the last six years.
The last
remaining prize went to Barguil, a winner of two stages, who was named the most
combative rider of the Tour.
Vindicated Froome heading for Tour de France yellow record https://t.co/QC1Zo0ubBb #TDF2017 by @BarnyChesterman pic.twitter.com/bKdbOxKh6U— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 23, 2017
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