Thomas was third quickest on the stage, behind Dumoulin and Froome, but did comfortably enough to take the yellow jersey into the celebratory final stage and showed his delight as he crossed the line in Espelette. The Welsh rider with Team Sky successfully defended his lead of 1 minute, 51 seconds over second-placed Tom Dumoulin in the mostly ceremonial final stage around the Champs-Elysees on Sunday. ”With the boys, that’s the main thing for the whole three weeks, we stuck together through some tough times, stayed strong,” Thomas said. “I didn’t think about it all race, and now suddenly I won the Tour.”

Dumoulin won the 20th stage by one second ahead of four-time champion Froome, who leapfrogged Primoz Roglic into third place overall. Stage 19: The final stage in the mountains and Thomas follows the attacks of all his rivals before sprinting to second on the stage to pick up more bonus seconds and move two minutes five seconds clear. The significance of Chris Froome’s short excursion in to a field less than six kilometres from the finish of the opening stage was not immediately apparent – and certainly did nothing to change Team Sky’s insistence that he remained the team leader. Many spectators along the Champs-Elysees held their arms high to record the riders on their smart phones as they went past on the cobblestones, and there were more cheers when 11 jets flew overhead leaving trails in the blue, white and red colors of the French flag. Tom Dumoulin’s Team Sunweb were fifth on the day, but only gave up seven seconds to Sky and Thomas before some much more significant time gaps further down. … You can choose to let it get to you or you can choose to let it motivate you, and we let it motivate us.”

Thomas stormed into the lead by winning back-to-back mountain stages in the Alps, including the iconic climb up Alpe d’Huez, then defended his advantage in the Pyrenees. Even though Froome was cleared of doping days before the start of the Tour, that didn’t stop some fans from abusing the British team’s riders throughout the three-week race. He was never put into trouble by anyone, in the mountains or anywhere — including by myself.”

An all-around rider who began his career on the track, Thomas helped Britain to gold medals in team pursuit at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics before turning his full attention to road racing. Thomas’ second consecutive win – making him the first man since Toni Rominger in 1993 to win back-to-back mountain stages – was not by a huge margin, just two seconds to Dumoulin with Froome another two seconds back in fourth. The Spanish Tour also remains a target for the Tour’s biggest casualty, Vincenzo Nibali, who left the race due to a fractured vertebrae, but has the Vuelta pencilled in as preparation for the world championships in Innsbruck in late September. Media playback is not supported on this device 'It's just insane really' - Thomas reacts to Tour de France win

Geraint Thomas became the third Briton to win the Tour de France when he crossed the finish line in Paris.
Geraint Thomas of the United Kingdom wins the Tour de France.