For the second, and final, time, Nairo Quintana bagged the white jersey of best young rider at the Tour de France, courtesy of his second place overall.

The 2014 Giro d’Italia champion was Chris Froome’s nearest challenger in the race for the yellow jersey and was the best young rider in the race by nearly 15 minutes.

Last year’s winner Thibaut Pinot was 37 minutes down on Quintana after his disastrous opening week, but the compatriots Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) completed the top three to at least point to a bright future for the French.

There were also three Brits among the 25 eligible to finish the Tour, with Adam Yates the best-placed in seventh place.

Peter Sagan, meanwhile, was perhaps the surprise package – finishing sixth ahead of more recognised climbers like Yates and Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo).

Quintana, however, admitted there were mixed feelings his jersey was white and not yellow – confessing he had lost the Tour in the first week.

He said: “I leave the race satisfied. We lost the Tour into the first week, but I’ll stay content after all good things we found during this race: I’ve got an excellent team, which always took care and supported me, and we all are happy with this.”

Tour de France 2015 – final youth classification

1) Nairo Quintana (COL) – Movistar – 84.47.26hrs
2) Romain Bardet (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale +14.48
3) Warren Barguil (FRA) – Giant-Alpecin +30.03
4) Thibaut Pinot (FRA) – FDJ +37.40
5) Bob Jungels (LUX) – Trek Factory Racing +1.32.09
6) Peter Sagan (SVK) – Tinkoff-Saxo +2.13.43
7) Adam Yates (GBR) – Orica-GreenEDGE +2.15.24
8) Wilco Kelderman (NED) – LottoNL-Jumbo +3.02.55
9) Emanuel Buchmann (GER) – Bora-Argon 18 +3.07.35
10) Merhawi Kudus (ERI) – MTN-Qhubeka +3.09.24