Chris Froome (Sky) sealed the overall win in the 2013 Tour de France on Sunday evening in Paris, safely coming home in the yellow jersey. Froome becomes thesecond British rider to claim the coveted Tour title in as many years after Bradley Wiggins in 2012.
Although Froome's overall win was assured, Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma) was denied a fifth consecutive victory on the Champs Élysées by Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano). Andre Greipel (Lotto) placed second, with Cavendish third.
Kittel kicked into his sprint early, forcing both Greipel and Cavendish to play catch-up. Although Cavendish's acceleration was greater than his two German rivals he simply couldn't catch Kittel as his wheels skipped and jumped over the slick cobbles.
Earlier, David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) had been on a long, lone escape building up a lead of half a minute at one point before fading with the effort. A couple of further breaks were launched, bu the pace of the sprinters' teams meant that it was always going to come down to a bunch gallop.
Unusually for a final stage, Froome lost time to all of his overall rivals after holding back with all of his Sky team-mates to roll across the line together. The team crossed the line 53 seconds behind winner Kittel, and 43 second behinds behind a group containing Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).
It meant that Froome completed the race four minutes and 20 seconds ahead of Quintana, who also claimed the white jersey for best young rider and the mountains classification.
Rodriguez rounded-out the final podium in third, five minutes and four second adrift of Froome.
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Froome dedicated the win to his late mother, and concluded his podium speech with the line: "This is one yellow jersey that will stand the test of time" having been dogged by questions of doping throughout the race.
Froome's victory means that he should start the 2014 Tour de France in Yorkshire wearing the number one of defending champion.
Results Tour de France 2013, stage 21: Versailles to Paris Champs Élysées, 133.5km 1. Marcel Kittel (Ger) Argos-Shimano in 3-06-14
2. Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Belisol
3. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
4. Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale
5. Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida
6. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha
7. Kevin Reza (Fra) Europcar
8. Yohann Gene (Fra) Europcar
9. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Saxo-Tinkoff
10. Murilo Fischer (Bra) FDJ all same time
Other
128. Chris Froome (GBr) Sky at 53 secs
Final overall classification 1. Chris Froome (GBr) Sky in 83-56-40
2. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 4-20
3. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha at 5-04
4. Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo-Tinkoff at 6-27
5. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Saxo-Tinkoff at 7-27
6. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin at 11-42
7. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana at 12-17
8. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 15-26
9. Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis at 15-52
10. Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Sharp at 17-39
Other
33. Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp at 1-13-08
40. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Saxo-Tinkoff at 1-34-17
77. Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Sky at 2-33-46
113. David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp at 3-14-25
135. Ian Stannard (GBr) Sky at 3-38-49
140. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky at 3-43-34
148. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-QuickStep at 3-52-04
Points classification: Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale
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Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.
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