Froome celebrates 3rd Tour title with beer and Champagne

Chris Froome leads France’s Romain Bardet by four minutes five seconds.

Froome has crashed twice while wearing the yellow jersey in this race – including Friday’s spill close to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc – somehow increasing his overall lead both times, but his race might forever be remembered for those freaky images of him running up Mont Ventoux on foot on stage 14.

“Vive le Tour, Vive la France”, Froome told the crowd in French during the trophy ceremony, referring to the recent attacks in Paris and Nice.

There were late dramas, with Etixx-QuickStep’s Marcel Kittel hit by a mechanical problem about 30km from the finish of this 113km stage from Chantilly while Coquard pulled over with a puncture with the finish line nearly in sight.

But this is another stage win at the Tour de France. On Sunday, Froome is going to lock up his third victory in the race and remain dominant over the rest of the competition. “It’s just been an incredible race where I’ve really taken on the race”.

Froome and his teammates dropped back behind the other leaders just before the line but they were given the same finishing time as the main pack when the official results were released.

His success here has been a textbook example of how a single team can put a chokehold on a three-week bike race. I suffered from allergies but I felt better in the last couple of days.

The 31-year-old, who started the 146.5km stage with a bandage on his right knee following a crash on Friday, was never threatened on a stormy and rainy day in the Alps.

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.

Froome was met just after the finish line by his wife Michelle and son Kellan as the celebrations began in earnest.

Froome let out a thin smile when he reached the finish as his Sky teammates cheered him on.

“I would love to come back and keep contending for the Tour as long as I can and as long as I have the motivation”, he said.

The descent has a nasty reputation in any conditions but the rain perhaps helped Froome in discouraging those around him from even attempting an attack. “I’ve done a lot in terms of offering up my physiological data and trying to be open to people as much as I can while protecting a competitive advantage at the same time. Chris Froome was very good, his opponents less good”.

Colombian Nairo Quintana, runner-up in 2013 and 2015 who was expected to push Froome to the limit, ended up a disappointing third, 3:08 off the pace.

“I still need to get the yellow jersey to Paris tomorrow but definitely the racing side of things is done and dusted”, said Froome.

German rider Andre Greipel won the last-gasp sprint finish on Sunday in Paris, claiming his first stage win of this year’s Tour.

Sir Bradley Wiggins was the big-name grand tour rider for Team Sky and Froome’s job for the indefinite future would be doing donkey work and fetching bottles.

Froome also courted controversy on stage eight when he pushed away a spectator after becoming concerned that the flag the fan was carrying was close to flickering between his wheels and handlebars.

Izagirre was clocked at 53 miles per hour on the descent.

“Beating Nibali in a downhill is something that counts in a career but Pantano also descends very well”. “At the end of the day, we’re happy with a spot on the podium, a stage win and the team’s classification victory”.