Freshly crowned Froome to warm up in London for Rio Olympics

Knowing he had such a comfortable lead riding at the start of the final stage, Froome shared both beer and champagne with his teammates.

German sprinter Andre Greipel, who won the final stage of the Tour in Paris, Michael Matthews of Orica-Bike Exchange and Tom Boonen of Etixx-Quick Step will also participate in the race.

Excluding the disgraced Lance Armstrong, whose results were stricken from the record, the last rider to retain the Tour de France GC title was Spaniard Miguel Indurain in 1995.

Froome, a bronze Olympic medalist in the time trial four years ago in London, will once again be among the favorites in the race against the clock in Brazil.

Pinot and Contador, who has won the Spanish Vuelta three times and the Giro d’Italia twice, dropped out early on.

“It would be my dream to keep coming back to the Tour for the next five to six years if I can and give it my best shot”.

The 31-year-old finished the overall 10,587km ride with a four minute and five seconds advantage to beat Frenchman Romain Bardet for the title, while the 2013 and 2015 runner-up Nairo Quintana was the third overall.

Slovak Sagan took the green points jersey for the fifth year running while Polish rider Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) took the mountains jersey. We love the Tour because it’s unpredictable. This is your yellow jersey too”, he said “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for your sacrifice.

The last day of the Tour de France is always a sociable, relaxed affair.

Many fans and pundits have praised the way Sky have ridden this year’s Tour; last year they were singled out for being negative and bringing a ‘boring’ style But this year they took on all types of terrain and conquered them, and Thomas was integral to that.

Chris Froome crosses the finish line on the Champs-Elysees avenue with his team-mates to win the Tour de France. The rider nicknamed “The Gorilla” won four stages a year ago. He next flies to Rio with a chance to better Wiggins’ haul as he competes in the men’s road race and time trial.

Plenty of credit for Froome’s victory must go to his team and metronomic support riders. It finishes on September 11 in Madrid.

But when his stage win showed once again that he was on tremendous form, and Peter Kennaugh announced his withdrawal from the Olympic squad, Cummings was given Kennaugh’s place.

However, his good work was almost undone on the Bastille Day ascent of Mont Ventoux when he crashed into the back of rival Richie Porte, who had collided with a motorbike.