Tour de France 2018: Chris Froome admits his hopes are over and vows to help Geraint Thomas clinch yellow jersey

Froome lost touch in the final kilometre, ceding almost a minute to Thomas and the rest, and will now work to help his team-mate clinch victory in Paris on Sunday

Chris Froome has admitted his hopes of winning a fourth successive Tour de France are over after he faded away at the end of stage 17, and said he will now ride in support of his team-mate Geraint Thomas as the Welshman chases his maiden yellow jersey.

Thomas finished third on the brutal Col du Portet behind Dan Martin and the stage winner Nairo Quintana to extend his lead in the general classification to 1min 59sec from his nearest rival, the Dutch world time trial champion Tom Dumoulin.

Froome lost touch in the final kilometre, ceding almost a minute to Thomas and the rest, and will now work to help his team-mate clinch victory in Paris on Sunday.

“It was a tough day, an intense day, but I've got no regrets,” Froome said. “G has ridden such an amazing race, he deserves to be in yellow and fingers crossed he holds it now until Paris. I’m happy just to be in the position I'm in. I've won the last three grand tours I've done now. It's certainly been a tough build up for me but I'll still fight for the podium and obviously we want to see G up there in yellow.

“I just didn't have the legs in the final kilometre. I think he's got an almost two-minute lead on Dumoulin which is a pretty comfortable buffer. He looks pretty strong and I imagine he'll be able to finish it off. We just need to look after him now for these next few days.”

Thomas made a late burst for the line to secure third place ahead of Dumoulin and earn four bonus seconds for his cause.

“I didn’t want to risk anything, which was why I left it as late as possible,” he said. “Especially at altitude, as soon as you kick and go deep for five seconds, it can bite you in the arse. So I didn’t want to risk anything. It was about just leaving it as late as possible and then going for the line and trying to get the seconds.”

Asked whether he is now the team’s de facto leader, Thomas replied: “I guess so. I think we’re in a great position. It’s unfortunate Froomey lost time but he’s still up there on the podium. But yeah, I think I’m in a great position. Just have to keep doing what we’re doing.”