Thomas poised for Tour title as Froome salvages podium finish

Britain’s Geraint Thomas fulfilled his childhood dream by winning the Tour de France Sunday (July 29) after the 21st and final stage won by Norway’s Alexander Kristoff.

“It’s been an incredibly testing Tour de France for me”, Craddock said.

Froome’s failure to beat Thomas also proved how hard it is to complete a Giro-Tour double, with Marco Pantani being the last man to achieve the feat in 1998 during the doping-tainted era. It’s just incredible. The last time I cried is when I got married.

“It comes down to tomorrow but I can take confidence with how I’m riding, and what will be will be”, he said.

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Four-time champion Chris Froome, Thomas’s teammate, finished third, 2:24 behind.

Team Sky will also be left to rue the loss of a rider just before the race heads to the harsh slopes of the Pyrenees, where the whole team will be needed to ensure Thomas and Froome retain their strong positions before the Stage 20 time trial.

‘To be actually around winning it is, you have to pinch yourself. Dutchman Tom Dumoulin stayed second ahead of Saturday’s decisive individual time trial. “(Sports director) Nico (Portal) said take it easy in the corners. But he was flying downhill, and eventually I got dropped on a straight part just because he was on his tube and full in the slipstream of the motorbike, ” Dumoulin said. “He had this ambition to win the Tour in the back of his mind”.

“He came to me the day he had a bad day and he seemed genuinely happy for me and pleased”, he continued.

“I felt good. I felt strong”. “To finally get a victory is huge, and a relief, because I was fearing I would only get the two victories”.

This victory will come in his ninth Tour, one fewer than the record for most appearances before winning, held by 1980 victor Joop Zoetemelk of the Netherlands.

It marked the first time in 12 years the Tour passed through the Basque Country, and fans waving the region’s red, green and white flags lined the entire route in front of the area’s traditional half-timbered houses. He can also make it Sky’s sixth victory in the last seven years.

Geraint Thomas savoured victory in the Tour de France with a glass of champagne on the road in to Paris on Sunday.

His own Tours have not been without incident. His previous Tours have not been without incident; in 2013 the rider broke his pelvis, and past year had to abandon the race after breaking his collarbone.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said: “His grit and determination over the last few weeks demonstrates how much he wants to win this epic race”.

Thomas was third quickest on the stage, behind Dumoulin and Froome, but did comfortably enough to take the yellow jersey into the celebratory final stage and showed his delight as he crossed the line in Espelette.

In 2014, which started in Yorkshire, he ended up being the only Briton to finish the Tour, in 22nd, after Mark Cavendish crashed out on stage one and Froome pulled out on stage five.