Tour win as good as the first, says Froome

Tour win as good as the first, says Froome

MORZINE (FRANCE) - Chris Froome said this one feels as good as the first after all but wrapping up a third Tour de France title on Saturday.

Great Britain's Christopher Froome celebrates his overall leader yellow jersey on the podium at the end of the 146,5 km twentieth stage of the 103rd edition of the Tour de France cycling race on July 23, 2016

Barring an unforeseen disaster, Froome will be crowned in Paris on Sunday after the final stage finish on the Champs Elysees.

And after pulling on the yellow jersey that he will wear one more time on this year's race, Froome said it was up there with winning his first in 2013.

"Right to the last finish line I had a lot of stress and a lot of emotion today," said the 31-year-old Briton.

"To pass the last finish line with my team-mates, it was ouf! Happiness, that's it.

"Three weeks of full gas, after everything that has happened these last three weeks, it's incredible -- the good moments and very difficult moments."

Froome crashed twice during the Tour, finished one stage on a team-mate's bike, on another he changed his bike twice in the last kilometre and most memorably ended up running to the line on the epic Mont Ventoux climb.

He even crashed again on Friday's 20th stage but kept his cool and managed to extend his overall lead.

He's won two stages, attacked where no-one expected and been more dominant than ever before.

"It feels like it's been a rollercoaster, there have been amazing moments where it feels like we've really taken on the race and made the race," Froome added.

"The descent to Bagneres-de-Luchon (on the seventh stage that he won) for example and the one in the crosswinds (where he finished second to Peter Sagan in the 11th stage), things like that, you can't script moments like that."

- 'Froome too strong' -

Froome's prime rival Nairo Quintana, who has complained the last few days of suffering from a mystery "allergy", admitted the best man won.

And despite finishing with his worst result -- third -- after coming second to Froome in his previous two attempts in 2013 and last year, the 26-year-old Colombian remained pleased.

"I finish very happy. Three Tours, three podiums, it's a lot of joy," he said.

"We came with a more ambitious objective, we tried but this is the greatest race in the world. I must be happy with this third place."

He added: "But Chris Froome was too strong. It's the third time I've lost against him but I'm still happy with our team showing on this Tour."

Frenchman Romain Bardet followed up his second place finish to Froome in last month's Tour warm-up event, the Criterium du Dauphine, by finishing second again.

It was his best Tour yet after coming sixth in 2014 and ninth last year, while he also won Friday's 19th stage.

"It's a lot of emotion, I'm going to repeat myself but last night we took a lot of time to enjoy it and we were able to go back into it today to retain this second place," he said.

"It's an exceptional performance and we can be proud to have succeeded in these conditions. To be honest, I wanted to finish in the highest position I could in line with my abilities. I really enjoyed myself."

While the driving rain and tricky conditions, particularly on the descents, helped to neutralise the battle between the top riders on Saturday, Spain's Ion Izaguirre won the 20th stage.

It was the first for his country and his Movistar team at this Tour but most surprising for having come from defeating two talented descenders in Vincenzo Nibali and Jarlinson Pantano on the 12km run down to the finish in Morzine.

"Beating Nibali in a downhill is something that counts in a career but Pantano also descends very well. I'm super happy," said the team-mate of Quintana.

"We came here with the Sueno Amarillo (yellow dream) but Froome was the strongest. At the end of the day, we're happy with a spot on the podium (Quintana finishing third), a stage win and the teams' classification victory."

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