The Welshman finished third in Saturday's stage 20 time trial to protect his yellow jersey, and will now ride into Paris on Sunday with a glass of champagne in his hand as the third British winner of the Tour.

Thomas has worn yellow since winning stage 11 to La Rosiere 10 days ago, but never let himself dream of winning the Tour until he crossed the line in Espelette, where he was greeted by his wife Sara.

"It was emotional," Thomas said. "I didn't know my wife was here either which kind of made it worse. It was just about doing all the small things right. That wall came falling down. I was welling up every time I hugged anyone or talked about it for about 20 minutes there."

It was the first time Thomas has cracked in the entire Tour. He did not come to France as a strong favourite or even as the leader in his own team, but has ridden smartly for three weeks to stay out of trouble while delivering two memorable mountain wins.

He follows Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome as a British winner, with the trio winning six of the last seven Tours, all in Team Sky colours.

Froome was expected to carry the flag again for Sky - the team had continued to insist he was their leader even after Thomas' victory on Alpe d'Huez - but while Thomas spoke in the yellow jersey winners' press conference, the four-time Tour winner was sat to one side staring at his phone.

"It's incredible to be sat here with this jersey," Thomas said when asked about the contrast. "It's insane. Big thanks to Froomey as well. He committed to me, he was really happy to see me do so well.

"We're good friends and I really appreciate having the best stage race rider ever riding for me. It's just surreal. It's going to take a while to sink in, I think."