Bernal wins, Geraint Thomas second, Peter Sagan wins in Paris

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Egan Bernal became the youngest rider in 110 years to win the Tour de France when he crossed the finish line on stage 21 in Paris on Sunday evening.

With the race leader not challenged on the final stage, 22-year-old Bernal became the first Colombian winner.

He crossed the line in the peloton, hand-in-hand with his Ineos team-mate and last year’s winner Geraint Thomas, who finished second this time.

Caleb Ewan won the traditional sprint finish on the Champs-Elysees.

The Australian, who timed his charge to the line to perfection, edging out Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen to win his second stage on his debut Tour, said: “It was quite messy I went down the right, I’d been told to avoid there and it is quite bumpy but luckily I had enough speed to come through at the end.”

Welshman Thomas went into the three-week race as joint leader with Bernal but his preparations were disrupted when he crashed while travelling at around 50mph in the Tour de Suisse in June.

He had to abandon that week-long race and then he had three minor crashes during this year’s Tour.

Thomas led Bernal for much of the race but his team-mate was stronger in the final week in the Alps, and ended up winning by one minute 11 seconds, with Dutch rider Steven Kruijswijk 20 seconds further adrift.

Bernal’s victory is the seventh in eight years for a British-based team, after Ineos took over the ownership of the Team Sky squad earlier this year.

Bradley Wiggins became the first British winner of the race in 2012, with Chris Froome triumphing in 2013 and then claiming three in succession from 2015 before Thomas took last year’s title.

Bernal is just the third Colombian to win one of cycling’s three Grand Tours. Nairo Quintana won the 2014 Giro d’Italia and 2016 Vuelta a Espana, while Luis Herera won the Vuelta in 1987.

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