British Cycling chief applauds "magnificent Tour de France" for GB riders (+ video)

The president of British Cycling has applauded British riders for a “magnificent Tour de France” that saw Chris Froome win the yellow jersey for the third time, Adam Yates become the first Briton to win the best young rider’s white jersey, and a total of seven stage wins for the nation’s cyclists – making it the most successful edition yet for the nation’s pro cyclists.

Besides those jersey wins, Mark Cavendish won four stages to take his career total to 30 – second only to Eddy Merckx – with his Dimension Data team mate Steve Cummings winning a stage for the second year running and Froome winning two on his way to the overall victory.

You can see all those stage wins in the highlights video above.

Bob Howden, president of British Cycling, said: “All eight British riders have ensured this has been a magnificent Tour de France for British cyclists.

“All of them are British Cycling members and, when they are out there doing the hard yards, they have the other 120,000 of us cheering them on and feeling very proud of the way they represent our organisation and our sport.

“Chris Froome has been the outstanding rider in the peloton again this year and has earned every inch of the praise that will come his way today. Chris is also a wonderful standard bearer for British sport who meets all of the challenges he faces with a great deal of dignity and quiet humour.

“It has also been very exciting to see Adam Yates showing that he can hold his own with the best in the world, fulfilling and surpassing the predictions that have been made about him since he was a junior with Bury Clarion."

Howden added: “Mark Cavendish, who of course has been back training with the Great Britain Cycling Team in preparations for the track in Rio, is in magnificent form and I don’t think there is a cycling fan in the world who doesn’t love seeing Steve Cummings race.”

Besides Froome, Yates, Cavendish and Cummings, the other four British riders in the race were Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas, Luke Rowe and Ian Stannard, all of whom sported one-off black and yellow kits yesterday in celebration of the overall win, and up-and-coming sprinter Dan McLay of Fortuneo-Vital Concept, third on the stage into Montauban, won by Cavendish.