Froome captures second Tour title

Associated Press

PARIS

All for one, one for all, and all bathed in yellow.

Arms over each other’s shoulders, linked together in a long line of happiness, Tour de France winner Chris Froome and his teammates pedaled slowly over the finish line, soaking up the applause Sunday on the Champs-Elysees.

Three weeks of furious racing, of beating back both a tenacious Colombian, Nairo Quintana, and doping suspicions that are Lance Armstrong’s poisonous legacy to cycling, were over.

“The Maillot Jaune is special, very special,” Froome said, using the yellow jersey’s French name.

“I understand its history, good and bad,” he said. “I will always respect it.”

The Tour is still French. But British riders have won three of the last four: Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and now two for Froome, following his first win in 2013. That puts Britain equal with the United States, with three from Greg LeMond — and minus seven stripped from Armstrong.

Under suitably British weather, on rain-slickened roads, Froome took it easy on the last Stage 21, his work done having grimly resisted Quintana’s late assault on his hard-won Tour lead the previous day on the final Alpine ascent.

The tired 160 riders — of 198 who started — didn’t bother racing for much of the largely flat 110-kilometer (68-mile) ramble from Sevres, in the French capital’s southwest.

To minimize risk of crashes, Tour organizers stopped the clock early, on the first of 10 laps on the Champs-Elysees’ cobblestones.

That locked in Froome’s lead to guarantee victory. He smiled broadly as he pedaled past flag-waving spectators. He still had to ride the laps to complete the full race distance of 3,354 kilometers (2,084 miles).

But knowing the title was his, he didn’t have to panic when a paper bag got stuck in his back wheel. He simply stopped and changed bikes. He also had time to raise a glass of Champagne in the saddle and stop to put on a raincoat under the iconic yellow jersey.

While sprinters dashed ahead for the stage win — snatched by Andre Greipel, his fourth and Germany’s sixth at this Tour — Froome and his teammates, wearing yellow stripes on their shorts and helmets, linked together for their slow-motion, chorus-line finish.

“This is your yellow jersey as much as it is mine,” Froome said.

Their powerful riding, chasing rivals in the mountains and protecting Froome on flats, was vital. So, too, was the meticulous planning of Dave Brailsford, the organizational brains at Froome’s Team Sky, which has far surpassed its goal in 2009 of nurturing Britain’s first Tour winner within five years.