All the challenges for Vincenzo Nibali were overcome well before he arrived in Paris on Sunday evening to be crowned Tour de France winner. Traditionally a sprinters’ stage, the finale on the Champs-Élysées was little more than a celebration for Nibali, or eight laps of honour, at the end of which Germany’s Marcel Kittel claimed his fourth win ahead of Norway’s Alexander Kristoff. Over the three weeks Nibali comprehensively dominated, and might have done so even if Chris Froome and Alberto Contador had not crashed out. The Sicilian conquered the hills of Yorkshire – winning in Sheffield – excelled over the cobbles and mud of northern Europe, then won in all three mountain ranges, in the Vosges, Alps and Pyrenees. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Vincenzo Nibali celebrate winning Tour de France in Paris . Arms raised: Nibali won the 101st Tour de France by over seven minutes on Sunday . Treble: Nibali has won his third Grand Tour, having won the Giro in 2013 and the Vuelta in 2010 . Job well done: Nibali, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, is congratulated by Astana team-mates . Rewarded: Nibali kisses his wife Rachele after the 137.5 km final stage in Paris . Even within Team Sky, whose Tour fell . apart after losing Froome, there was an acknowledgment of the . superiority of Nibali, the Italian who Sir Dave Brailsford tried to . sign, on a salary of two million Euros, when he was setting up the team . in 2009. Brailsford . refused to say that Froome would have won had he not crashed, saying ‘it . would be disrespectful to Nibali’ to speculate. Rod Ellingworth, the . Sky performance manager, was even more gracious. Asked whether Nibali . would still have won had Froome and Contador not been forced out, he . replied, ‘I don’t see why not. Staying on your bike is part of winning a . Grand Tour.’ Indeed, in . this Tour of many crashes, it is significant that all of the riders in . the top four managed to stay upright. The last Tour winner to suffer a . serious crash en route to victory was Bernard Hinault in 1985. That . was also the last home win, though perhaps they will not have to wait . 29 years for the next one. Two Frenchmen, Jean-Christophe Peraud and . Thibaut Pinot, finished on the podium, Romain Bardet was sixth, and . arguably the most talented of the lot, 22-year-old Warren Barguil, is . expected to make his Tour debut in 2015. 1. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana) 89:59:06" 2. Jean-Christophe Peraud (France / AG2R) +7:37" 3. Thibaut Pinot (France / FDJ.fr) +8:15" 4. Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar) +9:40" 5. Tejay van Garderen (U.S. / BMC Racing) +11:44" 6. Romain Bardet (France / AG2R) +11:46" 7. Leopold Koenig (Czech Republic / NetApp) +14:32" 8. Haimar Zubeldia (Spain / Trek) +18:12" 9. Laurens ten Dam (Netherlands / Belkin) +18:20" 10. Bauke Mollema (Netherlands / Belkin) +21:15" Red, white, blue:  There was nothing to shout for for the Brits after two years of triumph in Paris . Sight: The pack rides in front of the Hotel des Invalides during the 137.5 km stage . To the heavens: German Kittel celebrated his fourth stage win on the podium in Paris . 1. Peter Sagan (Slovakia / Cannondale) 431 . 2. Alexander Kristoff (Norway / Katusha) 282 . 3. Bryan Coquard (France / Europcar) 271 . 4. Marcel Kittel (Germany / Giant) 222 . 5. Mark Renshaw (Australia / Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) 211 . 6. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana) 182 . 7. Andre Greipel (Germany / Lotto) 169 . 8. Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania / Garmin) 157 . 9. Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium / BMC Racing) 153 . 10. Samuel Dumoulin (France / AG2R) 117 . VIDEO Nibali completes triple crown . Nibali . began as an outsider after a lacklustre season that some blamed on the . birth of his daughter, Emma, in February. ‘The curse of the bambino’, or . the distraction and pressure of becoming a father, meant that Nibali . had a slow start. ‘The . first part of the season was very difficult,’ he acknowledged. ‘My . daughter was born – I’m not saying it’s a problem, of course, it’s a . great source of happiness – but I preferred to stay with my family, my . wife, and it slowed down my preparation. ‘I was a bit late in maturing this season, but I still continued to believe in reaching this objective, the Tour.’ Power: Peter Sagan of Slovakia, wearing the best sprinter's green jersey after winning with 431 points . Final push: The riders on the way by the Eiffel tower as they head towards the finish . Nibali, . who once said that doping was equivalent to theft, and that offenders . deserved to be ‘locked up,’ also claimed that he wouldn’t have reached . this lofty peak, becoming only the sixth rider to win all three Grand . Tours, if drug-testing hadn’t improved. ‘In . 2008 I was a bit disappointed and sad,’ he said. Doping was rampant, . with the Tours from 2006 to 2008 Tours producing countless positive . tests. ‘Without the . biological passport [introduced in 2008] and the targeted controls, I . might not be here,’ he added. ‘A lot of progress has been made [in . anti-doping] and today we have the right results.’ Victory: German Marcel Kittel won the 137.5km stage, his fourth stage win of this year's Tour . Arc de Triomphe: Italian Nibali (centre) becomes the sixth rider to win all three Grand Tours .
Italian becomes the sixth person to win all three Grant Tours .
Niabli won the Giro d'Italia in 2013 and the Vuelta a Espana in 2010 .
A dominant showing saw Nibali of Astana triumph by 7 mins 37 secs .
137.5km from Evry to Paris won by German Marcel Kittel on Champs Elysees, his fourth stage win of the 2014 Tour de France .
All the challenges for Vincenzo Nibali were overcome well before he arrived in Paris on Sunday evening to be crowned Tour de France winner. Traditionally a sprinters’ stage, the finale on the Champs-Élysées was little more than a celebration for Nibali, or eight laps of honour, at the end of which Germany’s Marcel Kittel claimed his fourth win ahead of Norway’s Alexander Kristoff. Over the three weeks Nibali comprehensively dominated, and might have done so even if Chris Froome and Alberto Contador had not crashed out. The Sicilian conquered the hills of Yorkshire – winning in Sheffield – excelled over the cobbles and mud of northern Europe, then won in all three mountain ranges, in the Vosges, Alps and Pyrenees. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Vincenzo Nibali celebrate winning Tour de France in Paris . Arms raised: Nibali won the 101st Tour de France by over seven minutes on Sunday . Treble: Nibali has won his third Grand Tour, having won the Giro in 2013 and the Vuelta in 2010 . Job well done: Nibali, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, is congratulated by Astana team-mates . Rewarded: Nibali kisses his wife Rachele after the 137.5 km final stage in Paris . Even within Team Sky, whose Tour fell . apart after losing Froome, there was an acknowledgment of the . superiority of Nibali, the Italian who Sir Dave Brailsford tried to . sign, on a salary of two million Euros, when he was setting up the team . in 2009. Brailsford . refused to say that Froome would have won had he not crashed, saying ‘it . would be disrespectful to Nibali’ to speculate. Rod Ellingworth, the . Sky performance manager, was even more gracious. Asked whether Nibali . would still have won had Froome and Contador not been forced out, he . replied, ‘I don’t see why not. Staying on your bike is part of winning a . Grand Tour.’ Indeed, in . this Tour of many crashes, it is significant that all of the riders in . the top four managed to stay upright. The last Tour winner to suffer a . serious crash en route to victory was Bernard Hinault in 1985. That . was also the last home win, though perhaps they will not have to wait . 29 years for the next one. Two Frenchmen, Jean-Christophe Peraud and . Thibaut Pinot, finished on the podium, Romain Bardet was sixth, and . arguably the most talented of the lot, 22-year-old Warren Barguil, is . expected to make his Tour debut in 2015. 1. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana) 89:59:06" 2. Jean-Christophe Peraud (France / AG2R) +7:37" 3. Thibaut Pinot (France / FDJ.fr) +8:15" 4. Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar) +9:40" 5. Tejay van Garderen (U.S. / BMC Racing) +11:44" 6. Romain Bardet (France / AG2R) +11:46" 7. Leopold Koenig (Czech Republic / NetApp) +14:32" 8. Haimar Zubeldia (Spain / Trek) +18:12" 9. Laurens ten Dam (Netherlands / Belkin) +18:20" 10. Bauke Mollema (Netherlands / Belkin) +21:15" Red, white, blue:  There was nothing to shout for for the Brits after two years of triumph in Paris . Sight: The pack rides in front of the Hotel des Invalides during the 137.5 km stage . To the heavens: German Kittel celebrated his fourth stage win on the podium in Paris . 1. Peter Sagan (Slovakia / Cannondale) 431 . 2. Alexander Kristoff (Norway / Katusha) 282 . 3. Bryan Coquard (France / Europcar) 271 . 4. Marcel Kittel (Germany / Giant) 222 . 5. Mark Renshaw (Australia / Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) 211 . 6. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana) 182 . 7. Andre Greipel (Germany / Lotto) 169 . 8. Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania / Garmin) 157 . 9. Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium / BMC Racing) 153 . 10. Samuel Dumoulin (France / AG2R) 117 . VIDEO Nibali completes triple crown . Nibali . began as an outsider after a lacklustre season that some blamed on the . birth of his daughter, Emma, in February. ‘The curse of the bambino’, or . the distraction and pressure of becoming a father, meant that Nibali . had a slow start. ‘The . first part of the season was very difficult,’ he acknowledged. ‘My . daughter was born – I’m not saying it’s a problem, of course, it’s a . great source of happiness – but I preferred to stay with my family, my . wife, and it slowed down my preparation. ‘I was a bit late in maturing this season, but I still continued to believe in reaching this objective, the Tour.’ Power: Peter Sagan of Slovakia, wearing the best sprinter's green jersey after winning with 431 points . Final push: The riders on the way by the Eiffel tower as they head towards the finish . Nibali, . who once said that doping was equivalent to theft, and that offenders . deserved to be ‘locked up,’ also claimed that he wouldn’t have reached . this lofty peak, becoming only the sixth rider to win all three Grand . Tours, if drug-testing hadn’t improved. ‘In . 2008 I was a bit disappointed and sad,’ he said. Doping was rampant, . with the Tours from 2006 to 2008 Tours producing countless positive . tests. ‘Without the . biological passport [introduced in 2008] and the targeted controls, I . might not be here,’ he added. ‘A lot of progress has been made [in . anti-doping] and today we have the right results.’ Victory: German Marcel Kittel won the 137.5km stage, his fourth stage win of this year's Tour . Arc de Triomphe: Italian Nibali (centre) becomes the sixth rider to win all three Grand Tours .
Nibali celebrate winning Tour de France in Paris the Giro in 2013 and the Vuelta in 2010 . Job results.’ Victory: German Marcel Kittel won the 137.5km stage, his fourth stage win of this (centre) becomes the sixth rider to win all three Grand Tours .