Chris Froome won the 100th edition of the Tour de France on Sunday (July 21) to become the second British champion in successive years following on from compatriot and team mate Bradley Wiggins, who sat out of this year's race for health reasons.

Froome was untroubled on the 21st and final stage of the three-week race, a 133.5-km ride from Versailles to Paris and an evening sprint finish on the Champs Elysees won by Germany's Marcel Kittel.

The 28-year-old was greeted by thousands of Union Jack flag-waving fans on the Champs Elysees.

Despite the Team Sky rider having a commanding lead for the last week, the British supporters were relieved to see Froome win at last.

"He should have deserved to win last year but he supported Bradley so it's his turn this year," said Peter Crabbe.

Another fan, Ben Marshall, added that Froome deserved the victory for all of his hard work and training.

"There are plenty of riders people know are not clean" he said. "He has always worked hard and he deserves to win."

British supporters said they were eager to welcome the Tour back to the UK next year. The UK hosted two stages of the event in 2007 and next year the country will hold the opening three stages.

British fan, Terry Bailey, said: "Next year the tour will start in Britain so great for British cycling."

"It's a great event, we love watching it on television at home and we come here and we watch it live," said Sandra, just one of the thousands of British fans in Paris on Sunday. "It's absolutely fantastic, we really enjoy it, great atmosphere here on the Champs-Elysees, fantastic, Paris did a wonderful job," Sandra said.

In the overall standings, Froome led Colombia's Nairo Quintana by four minutes and 20 seconds, with Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez third, a further 44 seconds back.

The 28-year-old Briton has built his success on awe-inspiring attacks in the mountain climbs as well as his time-trialing ability.

Quintana claimed both the polka-dot best climber's jersey and the white jersey for the best young rider.

Peter Sagan of Slovakia retained the green jersey for the points classification.

Presented by Adam Justice

Read more: https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/froome-cavendish-team-sky-tour-de-france-493068