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PARIS — Chris Froome put on a near-perfect performance to claim his fourth Tour de France and move within one title of cycling’s greatest on Sunday as Team Sky tightened their grip on the classic race.

The Briton suffered a few wobbles throughout the 3,540km race but was always in control over the three weeks thanks to his high-calibre team mates who sheltered him when it mattered in the mountains, leaving the lanky rider to make the difference in the time trials that book-ended the 104th edition.

Sky, who have the biggest budget of the peloton, have now snatched five of the last six titles and came within a whisker of placing two riders on the podium as Spain’s Mikel Landa missed out on the top three by one second.

Froome is now one title behind all-time greats Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spain’s Miguel Indurain and French duo Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault.

He is the first to win three consecutive titles since Indurain, who prevailed from 1991-95.

The disgraced Lance Armstrong’s seven titles since then have been erased from the record book.

“I’m speechless, it’s amazing,” Froome said after getting off his bike and hugging his wife Michelle and son Kellan.

“The Champs Elysees never disappoints, there is something magical when you have spent three weeks thinking about this moment, it’s just so rewarding every time.”

“Each win has been so unique, such a different battle and this will be remembered as the closest and most hard-fought.”

Colombian Rigoberto Uran finished second overall, 54 seconds behind, and France’s Romain Bardet, runner-up last year, was third, 2:20 off the pace after both riders lost time to Froome in Saturday’s final time trial.

Sky’s team principal Dave Brailsford said there was no reason Froome could not add to his tally and become the most successful rider in the race’s history.

“I think Chris can go on, there is no reason to think that he can’t,” he said. “Physically he has got what it takes and I don’t think that’s going to diminish in the next year or so.”

Sunday’s largely processional stage from Montgeron — where the first Tour started in 1903 — to the Champs Elysees in Paris was won by Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen in a bunch sprint.

The 103km ride was the occasion for Froome to sip rose Champagne with his team mates as the real racing began only when the peloton, who went through the Grand Palais, reached the Champs Elysees and the sprinters wound it up.

Froome’s victory was the first one achieved with a gap of less than a minute and while there was no repeat of last year when he had to run up Mont Ventoux without a bike, he did have mechanical scares that his rivals failed to exploit.

Slowed down

In the ninth stage, they slowed down for him after Fabio Aru attacked near the top of the final climb with Froome waiting for assistance. A week later his main rivals did not go for the throat when the Briton broke a spoke in his rear wheel and found himself trailing by 45 seconds.

He also lacked his usual dominance in the climbs and was beaten in a brutal uphill finish in Peyragudes as the 26-year-old Bardet won the stage to fuel hopes of a first home champion since 1985.

Froome always had the safety net of Saturday’s 22.2km sprint around the streets of Marseille where Bardet cracked and almost lost his podium place.

France had a great Tour with five stage wins, including a double by Warren Barguil, who won the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification, reviving memories of Richard Virenque.

Australian Michael Matthews’s versatility earned him the green jersey for the points classification, helped by the fact that world champion Peter Sagan was kicked out of the race for causing a crash that ended Mark Cavendish’s race.

Germany’s Marcel Kittel won five stages but crashed a few days before the finish.

Britain’s Simon Yates won the white jersey for the best under-25 rider after finishing seventh overall, one year after his twin brother Adam achieved the same feat.

MARSEILLE, France — The only crumb of comfort for those desiring the yellow jersey Chris Froome will almost certainly wear to Sunday's prize-giving in Paris is that the British rider says winning the Tour de France is getting harder.

Barring a calamity on the champagne-sipping celebratory ride from Montgeron to the Champs-elysées, the 32-year-old captain of the Team Sky armada will claim a third consecutive Tour win and a fourth in five years.

No longer does it seem wrong to mention Froome in the same breath as the likes of Spain's Miguel Indurain, Belgium's Eddy Merckx or French duo Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil — all of whom won the race a record five times.

Born-racer Froome freely admits he is no student of the sport's heritage — his only concern is pedalling faster and longer than anyone else in the peloton.

But while he doesn't own the "Cycling Greats" box set, he knows exactly what they sacrificed to dominate.

"I certainly have a new-found appreciation for just how difficult it was for those guys to have won five Tour titles, it certainly isn't getting easier and this year was the closest race of my Tour de France career," he said.

"I've never been one to try and be like someone else. As everyone knows I have my own unique style on the bike. But I have respect for all those guys because I know how hard it is."

Froome did not win a single stage on this year's Tour and arrived in Marseille for Saturday's time trial with a slender 23-second lead over France's great hope Romain Bardet.

As it turned out Bardet was cooked and suffered a nightmare ride through the old port city and was only just spared the humiliation of being caught by Froome before the finish line at the Velodrome Stadium — despite the yellow-jersey holder rolling off the start line two minutes later.

AG2R La Mondiale's Bardet, who slipped to third behind Cannondale-Drapac's Rigoberto Uran on Saturday, did push Froome hard throughout the three weeks though and has vowed to come back stronger next year to dethrone the Briton.

Froome's 54-second advantage over Uran looks comfortable — he gained 76 seconds on the Colombian in the time trials of Duesseldorf and Marseille and actually leaked time in the mountains, especially in the Pyrenees.

With such a mighty team around him, Froome was able to largely control the race but he knows it was close.
"It doesn't diminish it by not winning a stage," Froome, who managed at least one stage victory in 2013, 2015 and 2016, told reporters.

"The tactic was for a three-week race, just chipping away and not trying to blow the race apart on one stage.

"Was a case of making sure there weren't any massive losses on any days. I suffered in the Pyrenees and lost 25 seconds to Peyragudes. I'm just grateful that it wasn't any worse because normally a bad day in the mountains you can lose three minutes.

"Every Tour is hard, it's difficult to say which was the hardest, every year you suffer.
"But this was definitely the closest."

COL D'IZOARD, France — Chris Froome said he was relieved the Alps are out of the way after keeping what should be a Tour de France-winning lead intact on the mighty Col d'Izoard climb on Thursday.

With a relatively straightforward ride towards the Mediterranean on Friday and a time-trial in Marseille on Saturday, only something quite extraordinary can now prevent another celebratory ride into Paris for Froome on Sunday.

The 32-year-old heads south with a 23-second lead over Frenchman Romain Bardet and 29 ahead of Colombian Rigoberto Uran after neither managed to dent his armour on an iconic 18th stage won in stunning fashion by home favourite Warren Barguil.

"It's a big relief," Team Sky leader Froome, now looking almost certain to claim a fourth victory in five years, said.
"Ideally I wanted to take a bit more time today but Bardet and Uran were quick to react. It's not quite done yet but the toughest part of the Tour is behind us.
"Definitely it's nice to get through the Alps feeling good and looking forward to the time trial now in Marseille."
There was a sense of now-or-never as Froome's main rivals for the yellow jersey, Bardet and Uran, sized up the Briton at the start of a 14km slog to the 2,360m Izoard summit finish — their last chance to find a chink in Froome's armour.
But neither could make any impression and it was Froome, with the help of Spanish team mate Mikel Landa, who was actually the aggressor.
At one point on the twisting ribbon of tarmac to the summit finish Froome accelerated away from his GC rivals and opened up a gap before they hauled him back in.
AG2R rider Bardet did finish third to Froome's fourth in an identical time — reducing the gap to 23 seconds because of a time bonus — while Cannondale-Drapac rider Uran lost a couple of seconds in fifth and is now is 29 in arrears.
Froome, who went into the Tour with doubts over his form, now looks immovable from the yellow jersey, although he said Uran remains a threat because of his time-trial skills.
"Definitely Rigoberto is my biggest threat in Marseille. From the GC group he is the next strongest in time trials," he said.
"He's only 29 seconds behind so he will be the guy to look out for in Marseille."

Froome would become only the seventh man to claim the yellow jersey in Paris without winning a stage if he fails to cross the line first in any of the three that remain.
"I'll do my best to try to win the stage and ride for the jersey. I've already seen the time trial course. It's a very fast 22km course. I'll do my maximum for sure," he said.
"It would have been amazing to win the stage today on this iconic climb. But if I'm in yellow in Paris without winning a stage I will have no regrets."

SERRE-CHEVALIER, France  — Chris Froome kept control of his rivals in a gruelling Alpine ride to move a step closer to a fourth Tour de France title on Wednesday, retaining the leader's yellow jersey after the 17th stage, won by Slovenia's Primoz Roglic.

The defending champion was attacked by last year's runner-up Romain Bardet and Ireland's Dan Martin in the lung-busting ascent to the Col du Galibier but he stayed calm and covered every offensive move.

Bardet and Martin's accelerations, however, were damaging for Fabio Aru as the Italian lost 31 seconds and slipped from second to fourth place overall.

Froome leads Colombian Rigoberto Uran and Bardet by 27 seconds each, while Aru is now 53 seconds off the pace.

"It is not a massive margin but it's a margin that I'm relaxed and happy with if I can go into the time trial in Marseille with the same margin I'll be pretty confident," said Froome.

"My teammates rode out of their skin today. I am certainly feeling a lot better than I did in the Pyrenees which is a great sign and hopefully I'll have good legs again tomorrow."

"I was surprised by Aru dropping time today. I expected him to go on the attack but it's the third week of a Grand Tour that tests everyone and there is no hiding place if you're having a bad day in the third week."

Cycling enthusiasts had anticipated an Alberto Contador victory as the two-time champion, too far down in the general classification to threaten Froome, threw caution to the wind with a long-range attack shortly before French President Emmanuel Macron went into Tour director Christian Prudhomme's car to follow the stage until the finish.

Kittel out
But the Spaniard cracked on the Galibier, a 17.7-km ascent at an average 6.9 per cent gradient culminating at 2,642m above sea level, when Roglic attacked from the day's breakaway group.

Martin and Bardet launched countless attacks of their own on the climb, but Froome stayed in control. The Irishman, whose uncle Stephen Roche won the Tour in 1987, paid the price later on, but Frenchman Bardet hung on to finish fourth behind Uran and Froome.
Uran and Froome snatched small time bonuses, but Bardet missed out, meaning the Colombian from the Cannondale-Drapac team leads the Frenchman by a few hundredths of a second.

Roglic held the group of main contenders off to become the first Slovenian to win a Tour stage, crossing the line 1:13 ahead of Froome, Bardet, Uran and Frenchman Warren Barguil, who consolidated his grip on the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification.

German Marcel Kittel, holder of the green jersey for the points classification, abandoned the race after a crash. New leader Australian Michael Matthews looks likely to wear the jersey all the way to Paris thanks to his big lead over second-placed Andre Greipel.

Thursday's stage, a 179.5-km ride from Briancon to the 2,360m Col d'Izoard, is likely to be the last-chance saloon for Bardet and Uran to unseat Froome ahead of Saturday's final time trial, which is expected to favour the Briton.

ROMANS-SUR-ISERE, France — Australian Michael Matthews accused German rival John Degenkolb of being a poor sport after his angry reaction to being beaten in a sprint for the line at the end of a windy 16th stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday.

Sunweb rider Matthews won his second stage of the race after his team mates set a scorching pace at the head of the peloton to take the sting out of the challenge of points leader Marcel Kittel, who was dropped during the stage.

In the sprint to the line he edged out Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo), who clashed with Matthews as the riders came to a stop, accusing him of veering towards him on the high-speed dash for the line.

"He grabbed me by the neck. The officials saw that. I don't know what they're going to do about it," Matthews who is second in the race for the green points jersey, behind Kittel, said.

"It was not very sportsmanlike."

Degenkolb gesticulated at Matthews as the pair crossed the line, appearing to indicate that he felt the Australian had pushed him dangerously close to the barriers.

Matthews disagreed.

"From my perspective I didn't do anything wrong," he said. "I started my sprint and sprinted in a straight line. I don't know what's wrong with him, but that's up to him.

"If I had done anything wrong the race officials would have told me."

Kittel, who suffered in the hot cross-winds that played havoc with the peloton, has 373 points in the green jersey race with Matthews on 344.
Matthews said with so few stages left he would be hunting high and low for points over the next few days as he tries to snatch the green top from powerhouse Kittel, who has already won five stages at this year's event.

The Australian believes his versatility gives him chances.

Team time trial

"It's nice to have a lot of tools but that means I don't have a rest day," he said. "Kittel is the fastest guy on the flats, so I won't beat him on those, but I need to get points everywhere else, like the hilly stages and uphill sprints.

"He has his game plan and we have ours and we'll see which one is best in Paris."

Matthews paid glowing tribute to his team who turned the last part of the stage into a team time trial — setting an incredible pace over the final 30km.

"Once we heard that there were splits in the peloton we were all really motivated to push on and extend the gap," he said.
"From then on it was an eight-man team time trial to the finish and I was able to finish off the job in the last 500 metres. I'm so grateful for these opportunities."

LE-PUY-EN-VELAY, France  — Chris Froome survived an attempted coup by Romain Bardet’s AG2R-La Mondiale team in a treacherous, hectic 15th stage to retain the Tour de France overall leader’s yellow jersey on Sunday.

Dutchman Bauke Mollema, the strongest and smartest of the breakaway riders, who had three top 10 finishes on the Tour, won the 189.5km stage from Laissac-Severac L’Eglise but the action was elsewhere.

Defending champion Froome was first caught at the end of a split caused by French team AG2R-La Mondiale, who continued to press the pedals when the race leader suffered a mechanical problem shortly before the key climb of the day.

The Team Sky leader kept his cool, however, and powered his way back to stay on top of the general classification with an 18-second advantage over Italian Fabio Aru.

“It was a stressful moment. I thought I might not get back to the front,” said Froome, who takes the yellow jersey into Monday’s rest day.

“I’m just grateful I survived today. Tomorrow is a rest day so I will regain some energy and hopefully be fresh for the third week.”

Bardet, who enjoyed huge crowd support in his home region in the Massif Central, while Froome was booed at one point, stays third 23 seconds off the pace. Colombian Rigoberto Uran is fourth six seconds further back.

Broken wheel

A week after Aru had attacked just as Froome suffered a mechanical problem, the Briton again had trouble with his bike and, as the race was on, none of the main contenders waited for him.

AG2R-La Mondiale accelerated suddenly at the front of the peloton with some 45km left and Froome and some of his team mates were trapped at the wrong end of the split.

A spoke on Froome’s rear wheel broke and he was assisted by team mate Michal Kwiatkowski.

Team Sky’s Mikel Nieve and Vasil Kiryienka then pulled Froome along in their wake as they trailed Bardet’s group, which contained Aru and Rigoberto Uran, by 45 seconds.

The Briton made up the time on the ascent of the Col de Peyra Taillade, an 8.3km climb at an average gradient of 7.4 per cent, with the help of team mate Mikel Landa, who briefly dropped out of the Bardet group to tow his leader back.

“Never a dull moment in this year’s Tour, that’s for sure,” said Froome. “Just coming into the main climb of the day I had a bit of a mechanical problem, I had to change the back wheel, and it couldn’t have happened at a worse time really. It was all hands on deck. I think I’ll pass out tonight. I’m knackered.”

Bardet and Aru, who opted to stay in the wheels of the Frenchman’s team mates in the punishing ascent instead of upping the pace to finish Froome off, jumped away on the final climb but were easily reined in.

Ireland’s Dan Martin pedalled away on a flat section after the descent to gain 12 seconds on Froome and the other favourites.

Martin is now fifth overall, 1:12 off the pace.

AMMAN — The MENA Golf Tour — an initiative launched by the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation — will for the first time include Jordan’s Ayla Golf Championship in Aqaba, which will take place between October 5 and 7, according to a statement from organisers.

The tour recently announced a total of six tournaments to be held during the second half of the tour’s 7th season, the results of which will count toward global golf rankings.

The season’s second half will launch in September and also include tournaments in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, and Kuwait.

The Ayla Golf Course in Aqaba is the only course in Jordan that conforms to international standards and had opened its doors to players and tournaments in September 2016. Following the Jordan Ayla Golf Championship, the MENA Golf Tour will head to the Sahara Golf Club in the Kuwaiti capital, where the Sahara Kuwait Championship will take place between October 16 and 18. 

The final stop of the tour will be at Al Zora Golf Club in Ajman with the MENA Tour Championship, taking place between the 23rd and 26th of October. This is where the final winners of the tour will be announced and presented with invitations to participate in various global tournaments, such as the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club, which takes place as part of the European Tour schedule. 

The current season of the MENA Golf Tour is witnessing intense competition between players from various nations, with the fervour mounting following the crowning of the first nine winners of previous tournaments this season.

“We are proud that Jordan is joining the list of countries participating in the MENA Golf Tour, which has allowed us to collaborate with the Jordanian Golf community to support this fine sport and help showcase the skills of talented Jordanian athletes,” said Mohamed Juma Buamaim, chairman of the MENA Golf Tour. “This will also help us in further reinforcing the status of the MENA Golf Tour, which is confidently marching towards international recognition and becoming a major source of return on investment for participating athletes.”

The managing director of Ayla Oasis Development Company, Sahl Dudin, underscored the readiness of the Ayla Golf Club to host the championship at its world-class golf course and its facilities, noting that the championship marks a major milestone in Jordan’s national strategy to promote Aqaba as a key attraction for golf and sports enthusiasts around the world. Dudin further expressed his gratitude to all those who have contributed towards making the championship a success.