PARIS (AP) — Sitting alone and unnoticed behind a giant board during the Tour de France winner’s news conference, Chris Froome patiently listened to Geraint Thomas’s answers.
It was an unfamiliar position for Froome, who for the first time in four years did not occupy the podium’s first place at cycling’s biggest race on Sunday.
Froome, who failed in his bid to win the Tour for a record-equaling fifth time, ended the race in third place, 2 minutes, 24 seconds behind his team Sky teammate Thomas. The 33-year-old Froome also came short in his attempt to win both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the same season, but there was no hard feeling.