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Colombia's Egan Bernal wins Tour de France

Egan Bernal has become the youngest winner of cycling's Tour de France in 110 years, following Caleb...


Colombia's Egan Bernal wins To...

Sport

Colombia's Egan Bernal wins Tour de France


Egan Bernal has become the youngest winner of cycling's Tour de France in 110 years, following Caleb Ewan's victory on the final stage in Paris.

22-year-old Bernal took the yellow jersey into the final processional stage through the French capital and sipped champagne with his Team Ineos team-mates during the ride as he became the first Colombian winner of the Tour.

Defending champion Geraint Thomas finished second in the general classification and crossed the line alongside his teammate.

"To finish second behind a team-mate makes it OK," said Thomas after the race.

"Two years ago I had my arm in a sling with a broken collarbone watching Chris Froome win, wishing I was riding and I would've taken second then, but it just shows how time and expectations have moved on.

"Egan is the future and when I'm 45 and old and fat and sat in the pub watching him win a 10th Tour de France I can say I told him all I know."

"Thanks to all my team and thank you G for giving me the opportunity," Bernal said in thanking Thomas for helping him win.

"I'm the happiest guy in the world. I have just won the Tour de France and I can't believe it."

Team Ineos, previously Team Sky, has now won the Tour de France in six of the last seven years and their chief Dave Brailsford believes having Thomas and Bernal and co-main riders worked perfectly.

"You can't get better than second and first, in the end, it was all about the team winning.

"A lot of people may have questioned having two leaders, were we hedging our bets and whether it was going to work. It's worked to perfection.

"We knew we had a group of older guys who were performing well, but we looked very hard to find the new generation and decided that it was going to be Egan.

"We fought pretty hard to get him and he developed fantastically well. The advice that Geraint has given, he knows what he's doing, he's generous with his advice and a generous person in that regard."



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