Froome wins mountain time trial, increases Tour lead

Froome leads second-placed Romain Bardet by 4min 5sec and third-placed Quintana by 4min 21sec and will seal his third Tour victory in four years if he avoids crashing on Sunday’s processional final stage into Paris.

“The strength in depth has been massive in the team”, said Thomas, who remained in 15th place overall.

“We have finished with nine riders in the race and it’s been a great few weeks”.

“I rode the climb there today and was on the front and just took it steady”.

“We told Froomey to just stick on me and we had three guys behind him in case anything did happen”.

“It’s a lot of emotion, I’m going to repeat myself but last night we took a lot of time to enjoy it and we were able to go back into it today to retain this second place”, he said.

It was therefore up to the breakaway to produce a spark on an uneventful final day of possible hostilities as Izaguirre won the stage after a daring descent to the finish having crested the final climb, the Col de Joux Plane, alongside 2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali and Colombian Jarlinson Pantano, victor of the 15th stage last Sunday.

Surrounded by four team-mates as he crossed the line in Morzine at the end of the 146.5km Alpine stage from Megeve, Froome could afford himself a smile of satisfaction despite the treacherous conditions.

The 23-year-old from Bury was second from stages seven to 12, and only lost third place to Nairo Quintana, one of the pre-race favourites, on Friday’s penultimate stage in the mountains.

“I think it’s a course (in Rio) that suits me well, there’s nearly a thousand meters of climbing and it’s nearly 60 kilometers in length”, said Froome, who will also compete in the road race in Rio.

Britain’s Chris Froome puts on the overall leader’s yellow jersey on the podium after the nineteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 146 kilometers (90.7 miles) with start in Albertville and finish in Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc, France, Friday, July 22, 2016.

Froome’s win is the fourth by a British rider in the past five editions, following on from Sir Bradley Wiggins becoming the first Brit to win the Tour in 2012, when Froome finished second to his team-mate.

Riders were hitting the deck with regularity after rain began to fall in the final 50km of the stage, but it was Froome’s crash which threatened to define the day. And, like every year, the contestants dream of many things: winning on the Alps and Pyrenees, wearing the yellow jersey, and riding down the Champs-Elysees.

Yates’ consolation was retaining the white jersey, which he won by two minutes and 16 seconds ahead of South Africa’s Louis Meintjes.