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ESPELETTE: Britain's Geraint Thomas wins his first Tour de France triumph after finishing third in the Basque Country time trial on Saturday (July 28th).
"I do not know what to say," said Thomas, who finished 14 seconds behind Tom Dumoulin of Sunweb, winner of the stage, at the last race of the race before the last leg of Sunday in Paris
"I did not think to win the Tour La France for the whole race and suddenly … I won the Tour, dude!
"I can not speak, it's just amazing."
"It was stressful, I thought I could beat the guys here," he added, "C & # 39; was the biggest stage of all three weeks, it's great! "
Team Sky's Thomas took a 2min 05sec lead over Dutch rival Dumoulin (Sunweb) before the 31km race against Saint-Pee-Sur-Nivelle in Espelette
Dumoulin is the world champion of the time trial, and he remained faithful to his form by taking the technical course in 40min 50sec to let Thomas 14sec late
Runner-up World Champion in the race, Dumoulin is second in the Grand Tour this year after finishing second to Chris Froome at the Giro d'Italia in May, but his first on the Tour.
DRAME SKINSUIT
He thought at first that he had lost a second, before learning the opposite.
"I heard that I was second by second, but it's the opposite and that's crazy," said Dumoulin, who suffered a mishap when he lost his aerodynamic combination.
"I was so nervous this morning, we found out that we lost the wetsuit, luckily our garment sponsor hails from the Basque Country on the Spanish side and they made a new one this morning so I could Wear it for the race.
"Otherwise, I would not have been able to ride in the colors of the rainbow world champion).
"It's hard to believe that I've won this time trial, but it's fantastic to finish the Tour this way and get on the podium for the first time." [19659002] Froome, the reigning champion of the Tour de France four times, had the second best performance of the day, with Dumoulin returning to third in the overall standings.
Froome was pushed back to fourth place, while Primoz Roglic's attack and the final stage victory in the mountains on Friday let the Kenyan Briton grapple.
But Slovenian Roglic, of Lotto-Jumbo, did not follow his time trial feat he finished seventh at 1:12 behind Dumoulin
"It's amazing," said Froome. (Friday) I thought it would not be possible. podium alongside Geraint is a dream. "
Thomas, who helped Froome win several of his x Grand Tour titles, celebrated at the end of the special by jumping in the arms of his wife
"The last time I cried was when I got married", said Thomas.
Except on Sunday, when the peloton will travel from Houilles to Paris in a festive spirit before the sprinters take over the Champs-Elysees, Thomas Bradley Wiggins won his first, in 2012, while Froome won the race in 2013 and 2015-2017
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