Unless your win is stripped from you, victory at the Tour de France is a good thing. Depending on your nationality you’ll meet the king/queen, president, prime minister, or whomever is leading your country at the moment. Then there’s the trophy. While not particularly attractive, it is still a Tour de France trophy, very prestigious

Chris Froome’s win in the 2013 Tour de France earned him £380,000 which is then split between his teammates and staff. The cherry on top was his team’s car sponsor, Jaguar, who sweetened the pot by presenting him with a convertible V6 F-Type worth £67,000 (approximately $103,000).and quite functional. I was told one owner of a TdF bowl used it as a place to put his car keys and loose change. The 2013 Tour trophy was a vase this year which still has a degree of functionality. However, those awards of participation and appreciation don’t pay the bills.

The V6 F Type has a maximum speed of 171 miles per hour and can hit 100 kilometers an hours in a scant 4.8 seconds. Considering the power under the hood, the V6 gets a decent 31 miles to the gallon.

According to The Independent’s car review of the V6 F-Type this Jaguar was the brand’s hope to reinvent itself and aligned itself with the new James Bond movie. The reviewer pushed the ignition button and wondered, “how on earth Jaguar got this car past the vehicle noise police in Brussels.”

At full speed the reviewer remarked, “it feels like you are being rocketed down the road by a full regimental combat team of the First Armoured Division on Salisbury Plain. Much of this is because Jaguar’s Active Sports Exhaust opens under load from 3,000rpm to build the exhaust note to a crescendo. It blips and pops on the downshifts too.”

I’m not sure what all that means, but I’m assuming the First Armoured Division is very loud?

The downside to this model, according to The Independent, is the trunk is too small, so Froome might have issues storing his Sky luggage and will be reduced to bringing a smaller backpack. Oh the humanity!

Froome’s car is kitted up in, of course, a yellow racing stripe down the center of the hood with an obnoxious yellow Sky logo emblazoned on the sides, along with selected fan photos which were part of Jaguar’s #GetBehindTeamSky social media campaign. Word of advice Mr. Froome – quickly get the Sky logo stripped off, but keep the racing stripe. That will separate your TdF edition whip from the mid-life crisis red models you’ll see zipping around London.

Froome, ever the professional, gave thanks to his vehicle sponsor, “They’ve invested a lot of time and ingenuity into designing the XF Sportbrake, which is the perfect race support car for us. It has been crucial to keeping the team on the road throughout the competition.” He makes no mention of the fact that on stage 18 Ritchie Porte went back to the team car within the last 5 kilometers of the stage because, according to Froome, the Jag that was supposed to be at the bottom of the last climb but wasn’t there due to mechanical issues. Or maybe he was throwing Skoda under the bus?