But though Geraint Thomas now joins Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome in standing on the top step of the podium in Paris, between them winners of six of the last seven Tours, this is a different story.
Wiggins and Froome were the undisputed leaders of Sky in each of their wins – with the brief moment that Froome dropped Wiggins in 2012 before sitting up a talking point that lingers to this day.
The first British-born winner of the Tour represents a victory, if not for the underdog, then for the worker bee finally allowed a moment in the sun.
Thomas rode in support of Froome in each of his four Tour victories, and arrived in France this summer with most expecting he would end up doing the same again.
As Froome and Sir Dave Brailsford fielded the questions of the world’s media at their press conference on the eve of the race, Thomas spent much of the time staring into space. He was not even asked to speak until the event broke into smaller huddles.
Sir Bradley Wiggins was the first British winner of the Tour de France in 2012.
But Thomas had other ideas. He had prepared himself to race as Team Sky’s leader – a possibility that could well have arisen as Froome’s Salbutamol case lingered over the first half of the season.
When Froome was finally cleared, just days before the Tour began, Thomas was not ready simply to drop back into a supporting role.
He was here to race, adamant that the leadership picture would be settled in the Alps.
We were all guilty of not truly listening to him as he outlined his vision of contending for victory. Sure, they might both start as protected riders, but such is Froome’s calibre in this race, it seemed that if leadership questions were to be settled on the road, they would only go one way.
Thomas knew better. By the time the race reached the mountains, he was the man in front, and his back-to-back victories in La Rosiere and Alpe d’Huez had stamped his authority on the race.
Sky continued at that point to insist that nothing had changed, that Froome would come good in the third week.
Either they were bluffing or they got it wrong regarding the four-time Tour winner, who simply could not match the strength being shown by Thomas.
By the second rest day, the picture seemed set, and Froome began to discuss the possibility of riding for the man who for so long had served as his domestique.
Chris Froome continued Sky’s dominance of the race, winning in 2013 and three times in a row from 2015-17.
Thomas raced smartly. The first week of the Tour was designed to throw up obstacles for those chasing yellow and duly did, but Thomas emerged unscathed, dodging the crashes and even scooping up bonus seconds to elevate himself above the other contenders.
It was the start of a pattern. In all Thomas scooped up 33 bonus seconds in this Tour. Take away those and give back Dumoulin the 20 seconds he was penalised for drafting off a team car, and things would have been much more nervous going into Saturday’s time trial.
There was one brief wobble on Saturday, when Thomas’ wheel threatened to slip from under him with 19km of the General Classification fight remaining.
It was the kind of moment where you might have expected Thomas, who has a perhaps unfair reputation for being crash-prone, to let it all slip away and add the most significant entry yet to his lengthy list of mishaps.
Not this time. Thomas has paid his dues many times over. Now he gets his reward.
