Geraint Thomas seals his maiden Tour de France title: Here’s the list of the jersey winners

Britain’s Geraint Thomas sealed his maiden Tour de France victory on Sunday after the 21st and final stage won by Norway’s Alexander Kristoff.

Thomas, of Team Sky, finished the race in Paris with a near two-minute lead on Dutch rival Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) to secure his first yellow jersey.

The 32-year-old Welshman, the third Briton to win the race after Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins, secured Team Sky’s sixth victory in the race from the past seven editions.

Thomas, who won back-to-back stages in the Alps before sealing victory with a third-place finish in the penultimate stage time trial on Saturday, took a 1min 51sec lead over Dumoulin into the 21st stage from Houilles to the French capital.

The final stage is usually a festive affair, and Thomas was seen celebrating with fellow Sky teammates early in the stage as he soaked up becoming the first Welsh yellow jersey winner.

It took several laps of the inner-city circuit around the Champs Elysees for the race to kick into action.

And after a six-man breakaway was reeled in late on, the sprinters’ teams in the peloton upped the pace to chase down a last-ditch attempt by Belgian champion Yves Lampaert, of Quick Step.

Lampaert was caught with only 220 metres remaining, and from there Kristoff came off the wheel in front of him to surge to the line and hold off Germany’s John Degenkolb and Frenchman Arnaud Demare.

Thomas rolled over the line seconds later, smiling and joking with four-time and defending champion Chris Froome.

Here are the different jersey winners from the 105th edition of the Tour de France:

Yellow jersey - Geraint Thomas (GBR/Sky)

Thomas began the Tour expecting to help four-time winner and teammate Chris Froome bid for a record-equalling fifth victory. But his outlook changed when Froome lost precious time and crashed twice before the halfway mark. When an on-form Thomas won back-to-back stages in the Alps, winning on Alpe d’Huez in the yellow jersey, Team Sky were handed a dilemma. But Thomas, a key helper in Froome’s previous four Tour wins, stepped up to the plate when required, countering dangerous attacks and threats from rivals, and sprinting to claim precious bonus seconds to show he was fully deserving of what was a historic win for Wales.

Green jersey - Peter Sagan (SVK/BOR)

A year after being thrown off the race for causing the crash that ended sprint rival Mark Cavendish’s campaign, five-time winner Sagan returned to the Tour looking to equal Erik Zabel’s record haul of six victories in the points competition. The former three-time world champion did not disappoint, winning three stages in total and – after seeing a slew of rivals like Cavendish, Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel fail to get past the mountain stages – battling through a tough four days in the Pyrenees, where he crashed, to seal the jersey.

Polka dot jersey - Julian Alaphilippe (FRA/QST)

Alaphilippe started the Tour de France hoping to bag stage wins but, after his impressive victory in the Alps at Le Grand Bornand on stage 10, the Quick Step ‘puncheur’ also found himself in the King of the Mountains jersey for the race’s most consistent climber. Alaphilippe hung on to the prize in the following stages, where he was challenged by compatriot and 2017 champion Warren Barguil (Fortuneo). But Alaphilippe was not to be denied. On stage 16 he capped a daring attack by overtaking Adam Yates, who had crashed, on his way to a second stage win on the downhill finish at Bagneres-de-Luchon. Days later he mathematically secured the polka dot jersey by cresting the Col d’Aspin in the lead on the final big day in the mountains.

White jersey - Pierre Latour (FRA/ALM)

Latour’s victory in the white jersey competition – which rewards the best-placed under-25 rider – will have French heads spinning as the prize usually gives an indication of who will go on to win the yellow jersey. But this year even Latour would admit he was fortunate to top the classification for the best young rider. Egan Bernal finished far off in second, but the Colombian sensation was effectively prevented from competing for the white jersey due to his duties in helping Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas win the yellow jersey.

(AFP inputs)