The Sky rider, came home under the Arc De Triumphe, to win cycling’s most coveted tour after three tough weeks and 21 stages.
Going into the tour, Froome, was expected to face a challenge for the yellow jersey from previous winner, Alberto Contador. But, his tour was over as soon as it started, with a couple of early stage falls and illness meaning Contador was to put out the tour before stage ten.
The tour started with a British rider in the yellow jersey for the time in his career. This honour fell to Mark Cavendish. The sprinter, not only took the opening stage of the tour to claim the jersey, he went on to win another three stages to take his tally to 30 wins on the tour. His quest to win sprinters title – green jersey – failed to materialise, as the Dimension Data rider left the tour with a week to go to concentrate on training for the forthcoming Rio Olympics.
Froome, winner of the tour in 2013 and 2015, took the yellow jersey by stage 8 and faced little trouble from the pack behind on the overall classification. Columbian rider Quintana, failed to live up to the expected rivalry with Froome during the tour. 2014 winner, Vincenzo Nibali, found the mountain stages, where he excels normally, a struggle this year.
As Froome, increased his lead in the tour, which was helped and marshalled by his Sky team lead by fellow Brit, Geraint Thomas, it nearly fell to a former Sky rider, to derail the British riders attempt to win the title for a third time.
Froome’s former right-hand man, Richie Porte, ended up colliding with a motorbike on the Mont Ventoux stage, with Froome right behind his ex-team-mate. What happened next, nobody could see coming, as Froome, without a bike and unable to wait for his team car, started running up the final stages of the mountain, before a substitute bike was found to finish the race.
One final scare emerged for Froome when, in awful conditions, he lost control of his bike on stage 19 and borrowed Geraint Thomas’ to finish the stage.
After finishing in Paris, Froome said “It’s like the first time, it’s amazing. Every time it’s special. It’s an absolutely amazing feeling. It feels like a privilege to be in this position. I’ve always had my team-mates around me.”
With Lance Armstrong’s records wiped from cycling history, Froome would like to join the greats of the sport such as Miguel Indurain, Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Jacques Anquetil in winning the Tour 5 times in their career.
“It would be my dream to keep coming back for the next five or six years and give myself the best opportunity of winning again,” said the 31-year-old. “I can’t say the novelty is wearing off. It’s such an incredible event and to be in the yellow jersey is every cyclist’s dream and the biggest honour in our sport.
“I hope I can be back next year to fight for it again.”