Chris Froome is ready to put his feet up after ending his season to remember with world time trial bronze.
The double Olympic time trial medallist had already made history this year, becoming just the third rider to win the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in the same season.
But any thoughts of a rest were to put to one side, with another impressive performance seeing him on the podium in Bergen, Norway.
The win was not to come the Briton’s way this time around though, with the Netherlands’ Tom Dumoulin showing his class to comfortably take the victory in a time of 44:41.00.
That was almost a minute ahead of runner-up Primož Roglič of Slovenia, leaving Froome to take a comfortable third place..
“There are no excuses, the conditions were exactly the same as they were for Tom Dumoulin behind me, so many congratulations go to him,” he said.
“He was the stronger man out there, but I have no regrets, I gave it everything I had out there and I’d much rather be here and with a bronze medal than sat at home wondering.
“I’m glad I started, now it’s time to put my feet up.
“I want to say a massive thank you to all the people who came out to Bergen and support the riders, even in the rain, the crowds up the final climb were just incredible.”
Froome was the third last to start in Norway, insisting that anything would be a bonus in his already triumphant year having arrived with minimal expectations.
And while he stopped the clock in second place, Dumoulin delivered an unflappable ride to take the win.
That denied Froome a chance to follow in Sir Bradley Wiggins’ footsteps as the last Briton to win the time trial, back in 2014.
But after entering the climb in seventh, the late stages played to his strengths and he hauled himself onto the podium, with his already-bulging medal cabinet getting a new addition. Sportsbeat 2017