It seeks to subjectively honour the best overall rider of the year.

Although he faced stiff competition from the likes of Giro d'Italia winner Vincenzo Nibali, world ranked number one and Tour de France third placed finisher Joaquim Rodriguez and the Slovakian sprinting star Peter Sagan, Froome was always the strong favourite for the title.

In addition to his four-and-a-half minute victory in  the overall classification, he won three of the toughest individual stages of the tour - mountain-top finishes on Ax-3-Domaines and the legendary Mont Ventoux before a time trial triumph in Chorges.

Chris Froome celebrates after his dominant Tour de France victory which no doubt helped him win the Velo d'Or award


The Tour, however, was his fifth victory of the year after a string of earlier successes.

He won the Tour of Oman in January and then the Criterium International and Tour de Romandie in the spring before a dominant triumph in the Criterium du Dauphine.

The only real disappointment was the World Championship road race title in Florence last month when, in terrible conditions, Froome abandoned the race after losing touch with the leaders before ending his season slightly prematurely due to back pain. 

After producing no winners for two decades following the beginnings of the award in 1992, Froome becomes the second consecutive British recipient following Sir Bradley Wiggins, last year's Tour de France winner.

In other awards, Christophe Riblon was named best French rider of the season in the wake of his iconic victory on Alpe d'Huez during the Tour.

Columbian Nairo Quintana received the Velo d'Or Espoir award for being best young rider after he finished second overall behind Froome in the Tour - in addition to winning the "King of the Mountains" classification.

Quintana will attempt to go one step better, and defeat Froome, at next year's Tour de France, on a course that would appear to suit his climbing abilities.

Team Sky were delighted with the latest victory for their team leader Chris Froome


However there was no doubt about this year's winner who, like his team, was delighted with his latest victory.

"To win an award as significant as this is a fantastic way to cap an incredible season," Froome said.

"I was fortunate enough to win the International Flandrien trophy a few weeks ago and to win this one as well is really satisfying.

"I'd like to thank all the people who voted for me, and while it's nice to be recognised for my achievements, my team-mates deserve credit as well because I couldn't have achieved what I've achieved this year without them."