It’s the Tears de France for little lad who missed Dad
AS emotional reunions go, it was an absolute corker.
Not only had seven-month-old Kellan Froome not seen his father Chris for three weeks but he also had to share him with a huge crowd of cheering fans.
No wonder the little fellow let out a wail as the cyclist tried to comfort him while celebrating winning the Tour de France for a third time.
Froome’s victory yesterday makes him perhaps the country’s greatest ever road cyclist, but his priority after sealing it was seeing his boy rather than celebrating with his team or sitting down to recover.
In emotional scenes beside his wife Michelle not long after crossing the finishing line in Paris, he cradled Kellan, who was dressed to match the yellow jersey always worn by Tour de France champions. But the crowds and commotion appeared to overwhelm the baby, as they would any child his age, and he burst into tears.
At the start of the day Froome, 31, had tweeted about how excited he was about the prospect of seeing Kellan for the first time since the race started on July 2. Under a picture of his son, he wrote: ‘Just 113km left to go until see this little guy… It’s been a long 3 weeks.’
In those weeks he made history by becoming the first Briton to win the Tour three times. He did so despite crashing twice in the race, on one occasion even running part of the route up a mountain rather than waiting for a new bicycle.
Until 2012, when Sir Bradley Wiggins was triumphant, the Tour had never been won by a British cyclist. But Kenyan-born Froome won it the following year, again last year, and now once more. His three-time victory in the 21-stage, 2,200-mile tour around France joins the majestic achievements of Olympic champions Wiggins and Sir Chris Hoy.
The final stage of the race is traditionally a processional, rather than competitive, ride into Paris from Chantilly north of the city. The other riders let the champion cross the line first.
Yesterday Froome, who sipped champagne at one point during the last leg of the journey, crossed the line arm-in-arm with his Sky teammates. He is the eighth person to win the Tour de France for a third time. Four people have won it on five occasions.