Tour de France 2017: Victorious Chris Froome warns rivals that he will keep competing 'for the next five years'

32-year-old Froome is determined to continue trying to capture cycling’s showcase event until he is nearing 40

Froome pictured with his team mates ahead of the final stage (Getty)

Chris Froome’s fourth Tour de France triumph was barely in the bag before the 32-year-old already warned his rivals that he will go on trying to capture cycling’s showcase event until he is nearing 40.

“I’d like to be here for the next five years, trying to win it, but it certainly doesn’t get any easier,” Froome, who recently signed a new contract with Team Sky through to the end of 2020, told reporters.

“But it certainly doesn’t get any easier. This year was the closest it’s ever been for me and it’s only going to get harder the next.”

With four Tour wins in his palmares, Froome is now 32, the same age as Spain’s Miguel Indurain when he took the current record of five successive victories, back in 1995. The oldest Tour winner is Belgian Fermin Lambot, aged 36 back in 1922.

After previous victories in 2013, 2015 and 2016, Froome recognised that this year’s course was the toughest one yet, but that “even though I was pushing to the limits, I always felt as if I was in control.”

“Every year we’ll have to try and adapt to whatever the Tour throws at us. This year certainly was the hardest for me personally, given the lack of mountain-top finishes and the [low number] of time trial kilometres compared to other years.”

“It made it a much more cagey race between the main favourites, once we hit the climbs. We basically ended up following each other. Between us we were afraid to lay it all on the line in case things didn’t go well and there wasn’t a back-up opportunity to rectify it.”

Froome struggled during the Critérium du Dauphiné's time trial (Getty)

Froome recognised that after a poor time trial performance in the Tour’s key warm-up race, the Critérium du Dauphiné, he’d needed to raise his game radically in that speciality.

“I realised my time trialling was an area in which I needed to put a lot of work in, and I’m glad I did because it was decisive in this year’s Tour.”

Froome denied that the turbulence that has surrounded Team Sky in recent months, mainly over the suspicions and question marks surrounding the performance of his former team-mate and predecessor Sir Bradley Wiggins, has affected his own Tour ride.

Froome is targeting a record-leveling fifth Tour de France title (Getty)

“No – it's something that really doesn't concern me and I'm not going to waste energy getting myself caught up in something that doesn't involve me.”

“When you have a three-week bike race, especially one that's been this close for the Yellow Jersey, it's not something that's on your radar. It's just noise in the background.”

“It's the same as a Frenchman going 'Boo' at the roadside – you hear it, but it doesn't stop you pedalling or going in the direction you need to go.”