As Chris Froome rolled over the finish line in Morzine last Saturday evening in a rainsodden yellow jersey, a small smile appeared on his face. There was no arms in the air celebration, just a slight grin to signal that a historic third Tour de France victory was about to be his.

It was a smile of relief, not elation. A celebration as understated and controlled as the man behind it.

A day later he dropped back at the finish on the Champs-Elysées to roll over the line arm-in-arm with his Sky team-mates, just as he did when he won the Tour 12 months earlier. Froome’s strength and moments of individual brilliance may have secured him thevictory, but it was his team that had prevented any of his rivals even thinking about coming anywhere near him.

The Tour had been billed as a race for climbers, with nine mountain stages and four summit finishes crammed into its 21 days. Race director Christian Prudhomme had littered the final week with brand new or barely known climbs — the Grand Colombier on stage 15, the finish in Finhaut-Emosson on stage 17 and stage 19’s Montée de Bisanne — packed into short routes that hinted towards a GC showdown in the Alps.