We take a look at the highs and lows of the 100th Tour de France from an Australian perspective

A KENYAN riding for a British team might have won the race, but he couldn't have done it without the help of Aussie Richie Porte.

CHRIS Froome thanked his Australian teammate Richie Porte for helping him win the 100th edition of the Tour de France on Sunday by ensuring the Tasmanian led the peloton onto the Champs Elysees.

As the riders approached the venue of the Tour's finale Froome (Sky) put a hand on Porte's back and then paced him to the front of the bunch so he had the honour of being first onto the famous cobbles.

It was a reversal of roles after Porte - now widely considered a future winner himself - had piloted Froome safely through the Pyrenees and the Alps en route to Paris.

"I'd like to thank my teammates who have buried themselves day in and day out throughout this Tour to keep this yellow jersey on my shoulders,'' Froome said on the podium following the 21st stage won by German sprinter Marcel Kittel (Argos). "This is one yellow jersey that will stand the test of time.''

On its team website Sky acknowledged Porte "played a huge role as Froome's wingman in the mountains - most notably on Alpe d'Huez when the yellow jersey had his most difficult day on the race''.

Former grand tour winner Sean Kelly on Sunday was quick to praise Porte - whose only bad day on the ninth stage cost him a chance of a podium finish.

"Porte has done a great job,'' the Irish classics legend said. "He's a talented rider capable of winning a big tour himself in the years to come.''

It's likely Froome will defend his Tour title in 2014 but Sky could well back Porte as team leader for either the Giro d'Italia or Vuelta a Espana.

The 28-year-old ended the Tour 19th on the general classification (GC) almost 40 minutes behind his teammate.

Former winner Cadel Evans (BMC) had a disappointing three weeks finishing 39th some 1:30:14 in arrears.

He hopes to make amends in 12 months time but acknowledged on Sunday the team might have different ideas.

"Personally in my heart I don't want to finish my Tour de France career like this,'' the 2011 winner said. "I'd like to finish on a much higher note.

"But remember (BMC) is an American team and (up-and-comer) Tejay van Garderen is American.''

Evans said if he couldn't aim for the podium in 2014 he would rather stay at home and watch the race on TV. He praised Froome as "exceptional'' saying he deserved to win ``a particularly hard Tour''.

Mick Rogers was the best placed Australian overall finishing 16th on GC 26:51 behind Froome. He got to climb onto the Champs Elysees podium after his Saxo-Tinkoff outfit won the team classification.

Tasmanian Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) again failed to deliver in the Tour's most prestigious sprint and he can expect further scrutiny over his lack of results.

But his 12th place on Sunday couldn't detract from Orica-GreenEdge's incredible performance in the first week. Simon Gerrans won the third stage and took yellow the next day when Orica-GreenEdge won the team time trial.

The Victorian passed the race leader's jersey to teammate Daryl Impey after the sixth stage and the South African kept it until the race hit the Pyrenees.

Australian finishers:
16. Michael Rogers (AUS/SAX) 26:51.
19. Richie Porte (AUS/SKY) 39:41.
39. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) 1h30:14.
68. Simon Clarke (AUS/ORI) 2h20:14.
72. Adam Hansen (AUS/LTB) 2h23:15.
80. Simon Gerrans (AUS/ORI) 2h34:36.
130. Cameron Meyer (AUS/ORI) 3h32:14.
152. Matthew Goss (AUS/ORI) 3h57:24.
154. Brett Lancaster (AUS/ORI) 4h00:19.
161. Stuart O'Grady (AUS/ORI) 4h03:27.

Key Aussie moments at the 100th TdF:
STAGE 1: D'oh! The Orica-GreenEdge team bus gets stuck under a gantry at the finish line in an incident that is later blamed for causing a crash in the confused peloton.
STAGE 3: Simon Gerrans secures Orica-GreenEdge's first-ever Tour stage win in a sprint finish from Slovakia's Peter Sagan.
STAGE 4: Orica-GreenEdge grabs the spotlight again with a surprise win in the 25km team time trial around Nice. The one-second win puts Gerrans into the yellow jersey.
STAGE 6: Gerrans is praised for his sportsmanship after deliberately losing five seconds at the finish to pass the yellow jersey to South African teammate Daryl Impey.
STAGE 8: Sky's Richie Porte sets a blistering pace on the climb of Ax-Trois-Domaines to help teammate Chris Froome secure the yellow jersey and destroy the hopes of many rivals including BMC's Cadel Evans who loses four minutes.
STAGE 9: On the second Pyrenean stage Porte plummets from second to 33rd overall after paying for his brilliant performance the day before.
STAGE 11: Richie Porte comes fourth in the first individual time trial to regain some of the pride lost on stage 9.
STAGE 12: Orica-GreenEdge's sprinter Matt Goss is hampered by a crash near the end of a stage for the third time in the Tour.
STAGE 13: Michael Rogers tells Saxo-Tinkoff to ride full gas towards the end of the stage resulting in team leader Alberto Contador stealing back more than minute in the race for yellow.
STAGE 15: Porte further banishes memories of his bad day in the Pyrenees by dropping some of the best climbers to launch Froome to victory on Mont Ventoux.
STAGE 18: Froome suffers a hunger flat 5km from the top of Alpe d'Huez but Porte saves the day by dropping back to the team car to fetch him an energy gel.
Adam Hansen is photographed drinking a beer handed to him by a fan on the Alpe.
STAGE 21: Froome thanks Porte for helping him win the 100th edition of the Tour by ensuring the Tasmanian leads the peloton onto the Champs Elysees.
Evans says he'd like to target the Tour again in 2014 but acknowledges BMC may instead focus on American youngster Tejay van Garderen.