It was Italian Vincenzo Nibali who became this year’s winner of the Tour de France on Sunday after expected winners Chris Froome and Alberto Contador dropped out following injuries that resulted from numerous crashes.

Nibali is the first Italian to have won the race in 16 years, succeeding despite challenging weather throughout the Tour. While the loss of Froome and Contador as competition surely had an impact, Nibali was succeeding even while they were still in the race. He won four stages of the Tour, and was race leader, donning the yellow jersey, for 19 of the 21 stages.

“Now that I find myself on the highest step on the Champs-Élysées podium, it’s more beautiful than I ever imagined,” Nibali said after the win, according to The New York Times.

Nibali, the team leader for Astana, is the sixth rider in history to win the three Grand Tours in France, Italy, and Spain. Standing adamantly against doping, the yellow jersey put him in even greater spotlight.

“The Tour de France this year was a great race, very different than the Tours we’ve had in the past,” he said, according to ESPN. “It was just about made to measure for me. It was very difficult from the beginning.”

Image courtesy of Carlos Delgado/Wikimedia Commons