“I like to thank my team-mates who buried themselves day-in, day-out to keep this yellow jersey on my shoulders and the Team Sky management for believing in me and building this team around me. Thank you to all the people who have taken the time to teach me over the years. Finally, I'd like to thank my close friends and family for being there for me every step of the way...
“This is a beautiful country and it hosts the biggest annual sporting event on the planet. To win the 100th edition is an honour... this is one yellow jersey that will stand the test of time,” he said from the podium.
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Before taking to the podium, Chris Froome offered some of his feelings after finishing 114th in the final stage...
“It's absolutely incredible! I could actually feel myself welling up with tears it was really quite an emotional feeling riding across the line with my team-mates who have just killed themselves to keep the yellow jersey on my back for these past two weeks.
“It has been an absolutely incredible journey. It's been a tough journey – a bloody tough journey – but to be here, standing on the top step of the podium on the Champs-Elysées is all worth it, 100 per cent worth it.
“It's still early days but there are definitely things I would like to do to try and promote cycling in Africa – in underdeveloped countries. This Tour itself has been amazing race in that respect, the fact that for the very first time we've seen an African in the yellow jersey with Daryl Impey, from South Africa – I mean, that's historic. And I'm really quite sure that my performances – having been born in Kenya, schooled in South Africa – will give a lot of inspiration to youngster there as well.
“How do I plan on celebrating? I've got some friends from school who have come over to Paris and my fiancée, Michelle [Cound] and obviously I'll be with my team-mates and the rest of the team and I'm hoping that we can have an unforgettable night.
“There is always a nervous tension coming each day, counting down before getting to this point. There have been different obstacles, different challenges along the way so getting to those last two kilometres and knowing that, ‘Okay, this is wrapped up now...' that was really quite an overwhelming feeling.
“The beauty of the Tour is that fans can get close to us. The excitement, the ambiance on the mountains and along all of the race route... okay it definitely does make it difficult for us at times and sometimes we have to actually push the fans out of the way when we don't have police motorbikes with us but that's one of the things that makes the Tour de France so special, the amount of support that we have out on the road, it makes it different from any other race we do.”
