Tour victory wrapped up by Thomas

PARIS — Geraint Thomas won his first Tour de France title Sunday, concluding his transformation from a support rider into a champion of cycling’s biggest race. The Welsh rider with Team Sky successfully defended his lead of 1 minute, 51 seconds over second-placed Tom Dumoulin in the mostly ceremonial final stage.

Thomas rode a yellow bicycle to match his yellow jersey and shared glasses of champagne with his teammates during the casual ride into Paris before buckling down to keep up with the other leaders on the cobblestones of the Champs-Elysees.

“It’s going to take a while to sink in,” Thomas said before draping the flag of Wales over his shoulders during the podium ceremony. “The support from the Welsh, British flags . ... To ride around wearing (the yellow jersey) is a dream.”

Four-time champion Chris Froome, Thomas’s teammate, finished third, 2:24 behind and rode next to Thomas as they crossed the line, with Froome applauding. Thomas was a support rider during Froome’s four victories but emerged as Sky’s strongest rider in this race when Froome crashed early and couldn’t keep up in the mountains.

Norwegian rider Alexander Kristoff with UAE Team Emirates won the last stage in a sprint finish, narrowly beating John Degenkolb and Arnaud Demare. The mostly flat 72-mile leg began just outside Paris and concluded with nine laps up and down the Champs-Elysees.

World champion Peter Sagan matched Erik Zabel’s record by winning the green jersey points competition a sixth time. French riders Julian Alaphilippe and Pierre Latour secured the polka-dot mountains jersey and best young rider white jersey, respectively.