Team Sky rider wins by 1min 12sec from runner-up Nairo Quintana
Monday 27 July 2015 07:58, UK
Chris Froome sealed overall victory of the 2015 Tour de France by safely completing a rain-affected 21st stage in Paris on Sunday.
The 30-year-old becomes the first Briton to win the Tour twice and hands Team Sky their third yellow jersey in four years.
Nairo Quintana (Movistar) also avoided incident to consolidate second place overall, 1min 12sec down, while Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) secured third place, 5min 25sec back.
Stage 21 was won by Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal), who beat Bryan Coquard (Europcar) into second place and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) into third to claim his fourth victory of this year's race. Mark Cavendish (Etixx - Quick-Step), who has been struggling with illness, finished sixth.
Froome had been expecting to have to keep racing all the way to the finish line, but heavy downpours and the threat of crashes prompted organisers to take riders' times for the stage when they started on the first of 10 laps of a 7km finishing circuit around the Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe and Place de la Concorde.
Although he still had to complete the stage to secure victory, the decision effectively meant Froome was the champion with 68.5km remaining and spared him a stressful afternoon of trying to stay upright.
It also enabled him to cross the line shortly behind the peloton, arm-in-arm with his team-mates, who were all wearing yellow-trimmed jerseys to celebrate the occasion.
In his victory speech on the podium, Froome said: "Of course, I want to start off by thanking my team-mates. Without you guys, I would not be standing up here. Richie, Wout, Ian, G, Pete, Luke, Nico and Leo - my utmost respect and gratitude. This is your yellow jersey as much as it is mine.
"The maillot jaune is special. I understand its history - good and bad. I will always respect it, never dishonour it, and I will always be proud to have won it."
The stage got off to a wet and processional start, with Froome sipping champagne and posing for traditional photos with his team-mates.
The rain stopped and roads dried up as the peloton made it on to the finishing circuit and riders immediately started attacking as racing began proper.
A breakaway trio formed, but after they had been caught with just over 3km to go, Greipel's Lotto Soudal and Kristoff's Katusha teams began battling for prime position heading into the final corner.
Katusha prevailed and Kristoff launched an early sprint, but Greipel waited longer to jump and reaped the rewards when he came storming past in the final 100m, narrowly holding off the surging Coquard.
After the stage, Froome received both the yellow jersey and polka dot jersey for topping the general and mountains classifications respectively, while Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) celebrated victory in the points classification and Quintana sealed the best young rider title.
Stage 21 result
1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal, 2:49:41
2 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Europcar, same time
3 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha, st
4 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka, st
5 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr, st
6 Mark Cavendish (GB) Etixx - Quick-Step, st
7 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, st
8 John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Alpecin, st
9 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, st
10 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltn) Cannondale-Garmin, st
Selected other
136 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, st
Final general classification
1 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, 84:46:14
2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +1:12
3 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +5:25
4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +8:36
5 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff-Saxo, +9:48
6 Roberto Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, +10:47
7 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing, +15:14
8 Mathias Frank (Sui) IAM Cycling, +15:39
9 Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, +16:00
10 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Europcar, +17:30
