Chris Froome won his second Tour de France title following yesterday's 21st and final stage to Paris; says impending fatherhood will make him hungrier for success
Great Britain's Christopher Froome celebrates on the podium at the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris after winning the 2015 Tour de France cycling race yesterday
L'Alpe d'Huez (France): Chris Froome won his second Tour de France title following yesterday's 21st and final stage to Paris. Germany's Andre Greipel won the stage, his fourth this year, ahead of Frenchman Bryan Coquard and Alexander Kristoff of Norway. Froome crossed the line arm-in-arm with his Sky teammates to clinch a second Grand Boucle crown following his 2013 success.
Great Britain's Christopher Froome celebrates on the podium at the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris after winning the 2015 Tour de France cycling race yesterday. Pic/AFP
Colombian Nairo Quintana finished second overall with his Spanish Movistar teammate Alejandro Valverde taking third, his best finish at the Tour at the age of 35. Rain rendered the cobbles at the finish on the Champs Elysees dangerous so organisers ASO neutralised the race the moment it reached Paris.
Official timing stopped
It meant the official timing was stopped just after riders past the finish line for the first time ahead of 10 laps of the famous Parisian avenue. It allowed Froome (30) and his teammates — wearing a black kit with the traditional blue stripe replaced by a yellow one in homage to their leader's feat — to finish in a straight line, arm-in-arm over a minute after the stage winner.
Having already won the Tour in 2013, finishing in the same way but then because his lead to Quintana — second that time as well — was sufficiently large to allow him to do so. Froome became the first Briton to win the Grand Boucle for a second time.
Quintana finished at 1min 12sec overall with Valverde third over five minutes back. Last year's winner Vincenzo Nibali finished fourth overall, ahead of two-time former winner Alberto Contador. But on the final stage, a 109.5km run from the Parisian suburb of Sevres, Greipel (33) emphasised his sprint superiority here. He had already won the second, fifth and 15th stages in sprints. His rivals Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan only managed 6th, 7th.
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