Froome becomes the first British cyclist to win the Toure De France twice
Kenya-born British cyclist Chris Froome has became the first Briton to win the Tour de France twice when he safely reached the finish line in Paris at the end of the three-week race.
The 2013 champion finished alongside his team-mates on the final stage, behind a sprint won by Andre Greipel.Mark Cavendish, seeking a fifth win on the Champs-Elysees, finished sixth after the 109.5km race from Sevres.
The win for Froome means a Briton, and Team Sky, have now won three of the last four of cycling’s showpiece races.Froome, 30, beat Colombia’s Nairo Quintana to the yellow jersey by 72 seconds with Spain’s Alejandro Valverde third.
The final stage ended with 10 laps of a 7km course around Paris but the times for the general classification were taken the first time they crossed the finish line because heavy rain in the French capital had made the roads treacherous.
Froome would have wrapped up the title on Saturday, but was forced to hang on desperately as Colombian Nairo Quintana attacked relentlessly in the penultimate stage up the iconic Alpe d’Huez .
In a gripping finale, Quintana powered clear of Froome, slicing almost a minute and a half off the Briton’s lead but not doing quite enough to prevent the Team Sky rider almost certainly ensuring that Froome celebrates his victory on Sunday.
Froome could not lose time if he was held up by a crash or mechanical problem but he still had to complete the stage.
Inside the last 10km he had to stop to remove a paper bag that had got caught up in his gears, while moments later he rode over a discarded water bottle. If either had caused him to crash and not cross the finish line his title would have been cruelly taken away.
However, he stayed upright and rode over the line arm-in-arm with his Team Sky team-mates several seconds behind the main bunch.
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