Chris Froome wins 4th Tour de France title, Dylan Groenewegen wins on Champs-Elysees

Chris Froome of Team Sky has won the Tour de France for the fourth time in five years, with Dylan Groenewegen of LottoNL-Jumbo winning the final day’s stage as the race concluded, as usual, with a sprint on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées in Paris.

It was a finale, however, that was missing many of the riders who might have been expected to contest a closing stage that has gained a reputation as the unofficial sprinters’ world championship.

Mark Cavendish of Dimension Data, four times a winner here, was absent following the opening weel crash that also saw Bora-Hansgrohe’s Peter Sagan disqualified.

Also missing were Marcel Kittel of Quick Step Floors, who abandoned through injury last week, and French champion Arnaud Demare, a victim of the time limit on an early mountain stage.

Andre Greipel of Lotto-Soudal, winner of the closing stage 12 months ago, closed hard on Groenwegen, who had gone early coming off Place de la Concorde into the home straight.

But the Dutch rider held off the German for the biggest win of his career, Froome rolling over the line alongside Michal Kwiatkowski moments later to confirm his fourth overall victory in cycling’s biggest race.

Team Sunweb took two of the four jerseys – Michael Matthews winning the points classification and Warren Barguil ending up King of the Mountains, as well as taking the overall combativity prize.

It was the second year running that the race ended with Froome not being the only Briton to step onto the podium – last year, Adam Yates of Orica-Scott won the best young rider’s competition, which this year goes to his twin brother, Simon.

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Chris Froome, overall champion for the fourth time

It's just an amazing feeling. The Champs-Elysées never disappoints.

There's something magical about it when you spend three weeks thinking of this moment. It's just rewarding. It's amazing to see my wife and my son again after several months on the road.

Each time I've won the Tour, it has been so unique. All my victories are so special in their own ways. This one will be remembered as the closest and more hard fought of them.

It's a huge honor to be mentioned in the same sentence as Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. It's a privilege to be going for the record [tying them on five wins] next year.

Stage winner, Dylan Groenewegen

This is an amazing place for the sprinters. To win on the Champs-Elysées makes it a perfect day. We're only five riders in the team but it was enough today.

They did a great job. They put me in a good position, on the wheel of Alexander Kristoff and then I rushed to the finish line.

This is my first stage win at the Tour.

When I was young, I was looking at the Champs-Elysées stage on TV. Now I'm the winner here, it's wonderful.

Warren Barguil, winner of the mountains competition and the overall combativity prize

It's still so hard to believe what we have achieved. It's been such an amazing Tour de France and I've loved every minute of it.

The climbs were really tough and it was such a battle to get this jersey. 

I will enjoy this victory for the rest of my life, it's a dream come true.

Michael Matthews, Barguil's team mate at Sunweb and winner of the green jersey

It's been a rollercoaster with a lot of highs and lows.

The second week was when mine and Warren's dreams started to come true.

We more or less took it in turns with the wins and continued the momentum together, along with the rest of the team.

To bring these beautiful jerseys to Paris is really something special and a moment I will remember forever.

Simon Yates, best young rider, succeeding his twin brother Adam

I think it’s a great thing. I hope it’s one of those thing that we look back on and see it as a great achievement that we’ve won the white jersey as brothers back-to-back.

I tried when I could to attack but also saved energy by staying in the wheels when it was the right time too.

Whenever I have the opportunity to attack I like to race aggressive. I think it’s great for the fans, but riding GC is also about picking the right time to do that and the right time to sit back and I am learning that.

A lot of things have contributed to this throughout the three weeks. I had a good prologue and it was actually earlier in the race when I made the most difference.  Louis [Meintjes, his closest rival] had a great ride and clawed a lot of time back on me but I managed to hang on.

From the time I joined the team, we knew this is what we were aiming to do – riding for general classification. We approached it like any other race, with no pressure and I think that’s the best way to do it.

The team did a fantastic job from the very beginning. They know me, they know how I ride and I want to thank them for everything they’ve done the past few weeks.