Britain becoming a nation of sporting winners

London: It started with last year’s Olympic heroics and on Sunday Britain was coming to accept the fact that it was actually rather good at sport.

For the second year in a row, the Union Jacks were waved in Paris as a British cyclist won the Tour de France.

At Lord’s, England went two up in the Ashes series with a comprehensive demolition of Australia and a Briton even had a good chance of winning the Open, with Lee Westwood starting the day two shots ahead of the field — although he had to settle for joint third with his countryman Ian Poulter after American Phil Mickelson played a blistering round to scoop the title.

Chris Froome’s Tour de France victory follows that of Bradley Wiggins, who in 2012 became the first Briton to win the legendary trial of endurance. This year Sir Bradley — knighted after his subsequent Olympic glory — was injured and out of action. But his Team Sky colleague Froome, 28, was the favourite to win and did it in style.

Britain’s six-time Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy said: “For Britain to have two riders winning the Tour de France back-to-back is fantastic for British cycling.

“It is a huge achievement and I almost feel sorry for Chris because people are almost getting blase about it.

“People think it is another British winner so that is what we should expect — but if you take a step back and get some perspective, you can see what a monumental achievement it is for him to have done this.

“Just a few years ago we did not have anyone who could podium, but now we have two cyclists who can win the Tour in consecutive years, and what Chris has done is phenomenal.”

After 2,000 miles and 80 hours in the saddle, Froome, who started his career riding a BMX on dirt roads in Kenya, was roared towards the finishing line at the Arc de Triomphe by thousands of fans who had travelled from the UK.

The yellow-jerseyed rider was clutching a glass of champagne and cigar for some of the final ceremonial stage from Versailles as he mouthed the word “Magnificent!”

He toasted his Team Sky colleagues in an accompanying car, saying: “It’s difficult for me to put it into words. It’s been an amazing journey for me. The race has been a fight every single day.”

Among those watching the last stage of the competition was Froome’s Welsh-born fiancee Michelle Cound, who described his victory as “a dream come true for me too”.

At Lord’s, England’s cricketers left Australia embarrassed as they won the second Test by 347 runs in what commentators described as a “demolition” with a day to spare.

It was England’s first 2-0 Ashes lead for 26 years. Man of the match was England’s new hero Joe Root, 22, from Yorkshire, who hit 180 runs in the second innings and also took key wickets.

The flurry of sporting victories comes less than 12 months after Britain won 65 medals including 29 golds in the London Olympics and 120 medals in the Paralympics, including 34 golds. In rugby this month, the British and Irish Lions ended a 16-year wait to seal a stunning series victory against Australia in Sydney, while Andy Murray became the first British male to win Wimbledon since 1936.

And in June Justin Rose became the first English golfer for 43 years to win the US Open.