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Tour de France: Chris Froome's journey up cycling's ranks comes to glorious end in Paris

From amateur to winner of the yellow jersey in just six years

Image: Chris Froome completed his remarkable journey on the Champs-Elysees

As he rode into Paris this evening, his sequined yellow jersey glittering under the floodlights, it seemed incomprehensible that only six years ago Chris Froome wasn't even a professional cyclist.

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"I think the first time I thought that, realistically, I could become a GC rider to contend in Grand Tours and races like the Tour de France, was during that 2011 Vuelta a Espana," Froome said. "Up until then I found it very difficult to keep my performances consistently high throughout a stage race. I would have good days and showings of what I was able to achieve, but I would never be able to back it up all the way through.

'Late starter'
"But that Vuelta a Espana in 2011 was the first time that I was able to do that, and that gave me a lot of confidence and belief in myself that, actually, I do belong in this group of riders at the front of the general classification." The successes that have followed since then are common knowledge, yet Froome does not forget where he came from and holds a full appreciation of just how rapid his rise has been. "When I first started watching the sport, it was only in 2003 or 2004, on television," he admitted "I certainly feel I was quite late getting into the sport. I have only been a professional for five [full] years since turning professional with Team Barloworld. This is my sixth year.
Still more to come
"It really has been a fast progression for me and each year I have taken so much away and I have learned so much." And so the question now is, can the rise continue? "I refuse to accept that I don't still have improvements to make - in every aspect," Froome stated somewhat bafflingly given his displays during this Tour. "My climbing, my time-trialling, my descending, which everyone seems to think is so terrible - there are lots of things I can keep working on. "I would love to come back and keep contending for the Tour as long as I can and as long as I have the motivation." Good luck, then, to anyone else wanting to win the Tour any time soon.

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