With rivals unable to attack in the mountains and seemingly content to fight for podium places, only bad luck could have prevented the Kenyan-born British rider from winning cycling's biggest race for the third time in four years.
By Naomi Tajitsu and Tim Kelly
TOKYO, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Poor communication, slack governance and pressure on resource-starved engineers to improve fuel efficiency at Mitsubishi Motors Corp were at the root of its mileage cheating scandal, an investigation concluded.
Froome had been able to enjoy a glass of champagne and a sip of beer on the 113km stage from Chantilly, won on the Champs-Elysees by Andre Greipel, before he met his wife Michelle and baby boy Kellan just after the finish line and the celebrations began in earnest.
Chris Froome claimed his third Tour de France title, becoming the first British rider to do so
In his podium speech, Froome thanked his team and family before paying tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack in Nice on Bastille Day, midway through the Tour.
"This is regrettable."
The report recommended five improvements at the company: a revamp in development, stricter compliance, greater transparency, a better understanding of the law, and a greater willingness to uncover and tackle violations.
The scandal led to President Tetsuro Aikawa and its top technology executive Ryogo Nakao stepping down.
Nairo Quintana was third overall, four minutes and 21 seconds behind Froome, while Yates was fourth, a further 21 seconds back.
German time trial specialist Tony Martin withdrew midway through the stage with a knee problem which will be a concern ahead of the Olympics. His withdrawal left the race with 174 finishers out of the 198 starters - a record, beating the previous mark of 170 set in 2010.
"We're after medals, that's it," handball player Anna Sen said as she prepared to board the flight. "We need to fight for those athletes who were disqualified."
Volleyball player Sergei Tetyukhin, a four-time Olympic medalist, will be Russia's flagbearer for the opening ceremony in Rio, according to pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva.
Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has become a de facto spokeswoman for Russian athletes excluded from the Olympics and gave a tearful address to the team in the Kremlin on Wednesday.
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STAGES 13, 18: FROOME HAMMERS RIVALS IN TIME TRIALS
Froome finished runner-up to time trial specialist Tom Dumoulin in the first time trial, creating bigger gaps on all of his direct rivals with an impressive performance. That day, his overall lead improved to 1 minute, 47 seconds on Dutch rider Bauke Mollema and he relegated fellow Briton Adam Yates 2:45 back, with Nairo Quintana lagging by 2:59.
While Russia avoided a blanket ban from the games at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee board on Sunday, the IOC imposed new restrictions on Russia. International sports federations must now remove any athlete previously banned for doping or who was implicated in a report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency that accused Russia of a mass cover-up of failed drug tests.
They also said in their report on Tuesday that Japan's sixth-largest automaker by vehicle sales had not rallied its workers to help get it back on track following previous scandals going back to 2000, when it revealed it had covered up customer complaints for more than two decades.
Once again, nothing could part Froome from his yellow jersey.
The Sky team with Britain's Chris Froome, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates arm-in-arm during the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 113 kilometers (70.2 miles) with start in Chantilly and finish in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2016.
This meant testing engineers had an impossible task of tweaking existing engine designs to gain greater fuel efficiency, they said, adding that this led to a culture within the division where employees felt they could not speak up against unattainable targets.
"That the company did not take a united, cooperative approach to developing cars was a key factor behind the falsifications," Yoshiro Sakata, a member of the investigation team, said.
Hours after the plane carrying the Russian team took off, the track and field team gathered across town in a small stadium for what was billed as an Olympic consolation event.
World champions competed against regional-level athletes in front of around 150 spectators in an event hastily organized after the track team's ban was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last week.
Isinbayeva watched from the sidelines, vowing defiance and legal action.
Froome further strengthened his grip on the race when he won the uphill time trial from Sallanches to Megeve as he rode 21 seconds faster than Dumoulin.
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STAGE 19: FALLING IN THE RAIN
Two days before reaching the Champs Elysees, Froome endured another crash during a chaotic and spectacular Alpine stage in stormy and wet weather. He was lucky enough to escape with no serious injury, and even emerge with a bigger overall lead.Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov, center, passes through Russia's National Olympic team members during the ceremony before Russian team's departure for Rio Olympics, in Moscow's Sheremetyevo, Russia, Thursday, July 28, 2016. More than 100 Russians from the 387-strong Olympic team have been banned so far from going to Rio de Janeiro over the country's doping scandal.
This caused a slump in Mitsubishi's market value and prompted the company to seek financial assistance from Nissan, which agreed to buy a controlling one-third stake in the company for $2.2 billion.
The investigation revealed that the company on two occasions failed to address the possibility that the vehicle performance testing division was manipulating mileage test results when issues were raised by employees.
The probe was carried out by three former public prosecutors and an ex-director of Toyota Motor Corp after Mitsubishi admitted that two of its minivehicle models and two models manufactured for Nissan Motor Co Ltd had overstated fuel economy readings.
This led to a suspension of their sales for nearly three months while further revelations showed Mitsubishi used improper data to calculate mileage for other models, going back to 1991.
"His performance over the last three weeks has enthralled the country and we are proud Chris has chosen the Classic as his last race before Rio."
"Now British fans have the chance to watch him in action and cheer on the man who has achieved the incredible feat of three Tour de France wins."
German sprinter Andre Greipel, who won the final stage of the Tour in Paris, Michael Matthews of Orica-Bike Exchange and Tom Boonen of Etixx-Quick Step will also participate in the race. (Reporting by Nivedita Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien)
Froome will headline a Team Sky squad which includes Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift, Christian Knees and Dutch sprinter Danny van Poppel in the world's richest one-day race over a 200 km route on the roads of London and Surrey.
"We are thrilled to have Tour de France champion Chris Froome riding for Team Sky at this year's RideLondon-Surrey Classic," race director Mick Bennett said in a statement.
In 2005, managers brushed off concerns raised by a new employee that the division had been making up mileage calculation figures, according to the investigation, while responses from a 2011 compliance survey addressing other falsifications were not passed up the line.
It will now award CCCC a minimum of 110 hectares of land out of a total 269 hectares that have been reclaimed from the sea in the commercial heart of the capital adjacent to the main port and the historic Galle Face Green.
The project is managed locally by CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd, which signed an agreement with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) in September 2014 in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Kristoff attacked first but Greipel, with his Lotto-Soudal lead-out train doing its job on the final approach, burst clear to make sure he did not leave this Tour empty-handed.
"I can't describe it," said Greipel. "I'm just super proud of what we've achieved today. I've raced for three weeks for that. The team kept believing in me.
"We've tried many times and we walk away from the Tour with two stage wins, with Thomas De Gendt and myself. This morning, we had a good plan. There was a head wind [1] at the end. I just tried to stay calm.
Rather, the investigators said the company had been more focused on cutting costs from 2004, when it admitted to conducting secret recalls, which squeezed the resources engine designers needed to keep the company competitive.
"The one I enjoyed the most by far was going on the descent, that just epitomized what racing is all about," Froome said. "Like when I was a kid, riding my bike at full speed in the descents in Kenya."
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STAGE 11: A MASTER TACTICIAN IN CROSSWINDS
In a stage that looked promising for sprinters, Froome's tactical nous was on display on the road to Montpellier, using the wind to his advantage to slip into a breakaway and gain more time on his direct rivals.
"Once we hit the finale, we were one guy too short so I chose to follow Alexander Kristoff who was the strongest. But this is another stage win at the Tour de France. It's wonderful."
While Froome was confirmed as the overall winner, Tinkoff's Sagan wrapped up his fifth straight victory in the points classification.
The 23-year-old Briton Adam Yates of Orica-BikeExchange took the white jersey as the best young rider in the race - the first Briton to win the category - while Sagan's team-mate Rafal Majka was confirmed in the king of the mountains' polka-dot jersey.
"It's a big moment," Bardet said. "My joy is enormous, for me and for the team, but I'm yet to realise what happened."
German Greipel, also the winner in Paris 12 months ago, pipped the late-charging world champion Peter Sagan to the line in the traditional sprint on the Champs-Elysees after racing clear of Norway's Alexander Kristoff on the run-in.
French hope Bryan Coquard was denied the chance to go for victory as he was held up by a late puncture, while Marcel Kittel also suffered a mechanical in the closing stages and was unable to contest the sprint.Team members left on a charter flight from Moscow's Sheremetevo airport to Brazil, a day after an emotional farewell ceremony with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.
More than 100 athletes from what was originally a 387-strong team have been barred from competing in Rio by international sports federations under sanctions which most Russian athletes consider unfair.
Tanel Kangert [2] (Estonia / Astana) +1:03:59" 27. Rafal Majka (Poland / Tinkoff) +1:04:25" 28. Wout Poels (Netherlands / Team Sky) +1:06:57" 29. Tejay van Garderen (U.S. / BMC Racing) +1:12:06" 30. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana) +1:19:59"
The 31-year-old is the first rider, apart from the disgraced Lance Armstrong, to retain his title since Spain's Miguel Indurain won the last of his five consecutive titles in 1995.
American Armstrong won seven titles in succession from 1999 but was erased from the winners' list after admitting to doping. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)
July 24 (Gracenote) - Final Youth Classification Tour de France on Sunday 1.
Adam Yates (Britain / Orica) 89:09:30" 2. Louis Meintjes (South Africa / Lampre) +2:16" 3. Emanuel Buchmann (Germany / BORA) +42:58" 4. Warren Barguil (France / Giant) +47:32" 5. Wilco Kelderman (Netherlands / LottoNL) +1:19:56" 6. Julian Alaphilippe (France / Etixx - Quick-Step) +1:55:27" 7.
Jan Polanc (Slovenia / Lampre) +2:13:42" 8. Eduardo Sepulveda (Argentina / Fortuneo) +2:23:45" 9. Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan / Astana) +2:37:10" 10. Patrick Konrad (Austria / BORA) +2:41:50"
As the peloton shattered in the crosswinds in the finale, Froome was clever enough to stay at the front and was able to join Peter Sagan when the world champion attacked 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the finish.
Sagan won the stage by edging Froome in a sprint finish, but the Briton got a six-second bonus for his second-place finish and gained 12 seconds on all of his main opponents.
July 24 (Gracenote) - Final Classification from Tour de France on Sunday 1.
Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky) 89:04:48" 2. Romain Bardet (France / AG2R) +4:05" 3. Nairo Quintana (Colombia / Movistar) +4:21" 4. Adam Yates (Britain / Orica) +4:42" 5. Richie Porte (Australia / BMC Racing) +5:17" 6. Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar) +6:16" 7.
Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain / Katusha) +6:58" 8. Louis Meintjes (South Africa / Lampre) 9. Daniel Martin (Ireland / Etixx - Quick-Step) +7:04" 10. Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic / Tinkoff) +7:11" 11. Bauke Mollema (Netherlands / Trek) +13:13" 12. Sergio Henao (Colombia / Team Sky) +18:51" 13. Fabio Aru (Italy / Astana) +19:20" 14.
Two crashes put his ambition to the test, but Froome recovered each time. Here is a look at the defining moments of the Team Sky leader's ride across France:
Britain's Chris Froome, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates with a glass of champagne during the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 113 kilometers (70.2 miles) with start in Chantilly and finish in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2016.
Peter Sagan (Slovakia / Tinkoff) 470 2. Marcel Kittel (Germany / Etixx - Quick-Step) 228 3. Michael Matthews (Australia / Orica) 199 4. Andre Greipel (Germany / Lotto) 178 5. Alexander Kristoff (Norway / Katusha) 172 6. Bryan Coquard (France / Direct Energie) 156 7.
Thomas De Gendt (Belgium / Lotto) 154 8. Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium / BMC Racing) 136 9. Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky) 131 10. Rafal Majka (Poland / Tinkoff) 120
"This tour has obviously taken place against the backdrop of terrible events in Nice and we pay our respects, once again, to those who lost their lives in this terrible event," he said.
"Of course these kind of events put sport into perspective but they also show why the values of sport are so important to free society.
"We all love the Tour de France because it is unpredictable but we love the Tour more for what stays the same - the passion of the fans from every nation along the roadside, the beauty of the French countryside and the bonds of friendship created through sport.
CAPE TOWN, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Skipper AB de Villiers has been ruled out of South Africa's two-test home series against New Zealand this month with an injured elbow and Faf du Plessis will take over the captaincy.
Sebastien Reichenbach (Switzerland / FDJ) +24:59" 15. Geraint Thomas (Britain / Team Sky) +28:31" 16. Pierre Rolland (France / Cannondale) +30:42" 17. Mikel Nieve (Spain / Team Sky) +38:30" 18. Stef Clement (Netherlands / IAM Cycling) +38:57" 19. Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia / IAM Cycling) +38:59" 20.
Alexis Vuillermoz (France / AG2R) +42:28" 21. Emanuel Buchmann (Germany / BORA) +47:40" 22. Damiano Caruso (Italy / BMC Racing) +48:23" 23. Warren Barguil (France / Giant) +52:14" 24. Haimar Zubeldia (Spain / Trek) +53:06" 25. Ilnur Zakarin (Russia / Katusha) +56:33" 26.
** American Floyd Landis was stripped of the title after testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone during the 2006 race. * American Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven titles from 1999-2005 for doping. The titles have not been reallocated. (Compiled by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ed Osmond)
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