Team Sky rider and leader's yellow jersey holder Christopher Froome (C) of Britain, winner of the centenary Tour de France cycling race, celebrates his overall victory with Movistar team rider, best climber's polka dot jersey holder Nairo Alexander Quintana (L) of Colombia and best sprinter Cannondale team rider Peter Sagan of Slovakia on the podium after the 133.5km final stage, from Versailles to Paris Champs Elysees, July 21, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

PARIS - Chris Froome won the 100th Tour de France on Sunday, having dominated rivals over three weeks on the road and adroitly dealt with doping suspicions off it.

In two years, Britain has now had two different winners: Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and then Froome, a cooler, calmer, more understated but no less determined character than his Sky teammate with famous sideburns.

Froome rode into Paris in style - in the canary yellow race leader's jersey he took on Stage 8 in the Pyrenees and never relinquished, vigorously fending off rivals whose concerted challenges turned this Tour into a thriller. Froome and his Sky teammates linked arms as they rode for the line.

The 100th edition was visually stunning, too, starting with a first-ever swing through Corsica, France's so-called "island of beauty," before veering through the Pyrenees to Brittany and then across France to the race's crescendo in the Alps - 3,404 grueling kilometers (2,115 miles) in total.

Uniquely, the 100th Tour treated itself to a late-afternoon start for its final Stage 21 so the riders raced a few hours later on the cobbles of the Champs-Elysees as the sun cast golden hues over the peloton and the shadows lengthened over the dense, cheering crowds.

French Air Force jets in formation trailed red, white and blue smoke in the skies about the leafy avenue as the peloton powered up it for the first time and, exceptionally, circled like a necklace around the Arc de Triomphe in their brightly colored team jerseys.

After setting off from the magnificent Versailles Palace, the former residence of three kings and their seat of power until the French revolution of 1789, the riders were granted the privilege of meandering through the chateau's manicured gardens, past lakes like mirrors, spurting fountains and statues looking on stonily.

As per tradition and because Froome's big race lead made him untouchable, Sunday's 133-kilometer (82-mile) final ride was a largely leisurely affair until the pace picked up sharply on the Champs-Elysees. Marcel Kittel won the final sprint on that famous avenue, the German's sprinter's fourth stage win of this Tour.

Riders pedaled up to Froome to offer congratulations; he sipped from a flute of champagne as he rode; a Tour organizer stuck an arm from his car window to shake Froome's hand. Peter Sagan colored his beard green to celebrate the green jersey he won for picking up the most points in sprints over the three weeks.

"It's a dream to arrive in yellow on the Champs-Elysees," Froome said before leading the pack from Versailles. "C'est formidable."

His efforts to speak French have been gratefully noted by TV commentators here.

Team Sky rider and leader's yellow jersey holder Christopher Froome of Britain (L), winner of the centenary Tour de France cycling race, kisses his girlfriend Michelle Cound as leaves the podium after the 133.5km final stage, from Versailles to Paris Champs Elysees, July 21, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]