Froome All But Secures Tour Glory

Cheered on the Champs-Elysees under suitably rainy skies for Britain’s third win in the 112-year-old race, Froome took it easy on the last Stage 21, his work done having grimly resisted Quintana’s last-ditch assault on his hard-won Tour lead on Saturday on the final Alpine ascent.

This post was updated to correct an error regarding how many times Chris Froome has won the Tour de France.

In a gripping finale, Quintana powered clear of Froome, slicing nearly a minute and a half off the Briton’s lead, but not doing quite enough to prevent the Team Sky rider nearly certainly ensuring he will celebrate victory on Sunday.

It was pointed out to Froome that he had been in the leading group that had made time on key rivals Quintana and Nibali when that pair had been caught behind a crash in stage two.

It was a hard fought title for Froome, who has been subject to innuendo and interrogations in the 102nd Tour after a victory based on a dominant display on stage 10 to La Pierre-Saint-Martin in the Pyrenees.

Quintana said: “I gave it everything”. I was on my absolute limit.

But Quintana ran out of road and trailed by 1min 12secs ahead of Sunday’s ceremonial finish in Paris, where Froome will stand atop the podium for a second time. The gap opened slowly – just as it had the previous day – but this time Froome was visibly struggling to hang on to his team-mates.

Quintana finished second, 18 seconds behind Pinot, but Froome, who started the day with a buffer of 2 minutes, 38 seconds, dug in to finish the stage fifth, just 1:20 behind Quintana.

The Tour de France pack is on the last big stage of this year’s race, with Britain’s Chris Froome hoping to rebuff any attacks so he can take home the yellow jersey.

But Quintana will once again finish runner-up to Froome, as he did two years ago, although this is set to be the smallest winning margin since Carlos Sastre beat Cadel Evans by 58 seconds in 2008.

But health issues aside, his ride on Saturday dispelled any suggestion that his conviction in helping Froome in the Tour could ever have been distracted by his contractual future.

But from the evidence this time, Quintana is getting closer to finding Froome’s breaking point. This Tour wasn’t so comfortable. “I think after everything he’s endured, Chris has shown his real mettle”, said Brailsford. “We’ll be back for the rematch”. On the final climb a man clad in polka-dot kit directed spittle at the yellow jersey, who turned round to look at his assailant before continuing on his way.

“There were a couple of people out there- I was aware of a few people spitting again”, he said.

Spain’s Alejandro Valverde is third 5:25 off the pace.

Froome, his voice rough, said at his winners press conference hes battled a cough and “been struggling” in the Alps. He did so calmly and patiently, insisting that cycling has moved on from the “Wild West” Armstrong era when the American won seven Tours before later losing them for doping.

But after a spectator threw urine at him on Stage 14, the mild-mannered Froome showed steel, blaming “very irresponsible” commentators for souring public opinion.

And he said he certainly is not going to be satisfied with two Tour crowns.

“Chris is the most unbelievable competitor – the most polite guy off the bike – but on it the most resilient character I’ve met. He deserves more credit than he gets”.