Sunday, Stage 15: Givors to Mont Ventoux, 242.5km

What a day it was in the Tour de France. And how Chris Froome deserves the stage win to Mont Ventoux that saw him extend his overall lead.

But after a day that was so crucial for Froomey – who was brilliant – one rider on Team Sky who deserves a huge thumbs up is Peter Kennaugh.

Pete was terrific on Sunday's 15th stage. He put everyone on the ropes with his ride at the front of our group going up Mont Ventoux.

With his fierce tempo at the front, Pete did what Geraint Thomas would have done for us had 'G' [Thomas], who is still in the race, not fractured his pelvis in stage one.

Pete has really stepped up this year - and in this Tour. He wasn't meant to have even been on the Tour team when the season started. But he just put his mind to it, and believed that he was going to race the Tour. Eventually, he ended up having earned his place in the team - and he has paid back that faith ten-fold.

I've known Pete since 2009 when we both raced in the 'Baby Giro' [the amateur Giro d'Italia]. I was then riding for the Italian Monsummanese Grassi-Mapei amateur team, and he was in the Great Britain academy team and racing for the general classification - after winning the third stage he ended up finishing in third place overall.

It's great that four years on we're both here at the 100th Tour, fighting to help Froomey get into Paris first. Who would have guessed that back then?

At 24, Pete is four years younger than me. But one of the things that really impresses me about Pete, who was in Great Britain's Olympic gold medal winning team pursuit line-up last year, is his attitude when the going gets really tough in the race - and out of the race too, as so often happens in the Tour for all sorts of reasons.

While Pete played a huge role in our performance on Mont Ventoux, it was great to see the whole Sky team ride as it did to set up Froomey for his win.

A lot of people were jumping on the bandwagon, saying the team was in trouble and vulnerable this week. Sure, we had lost two guys and that did weaken us a little. But we had to figure out how to cover for those losses and when we set off for Mont Ventoux, we wanted to show we are a good team that can support Froomey all the way to Sunday's finish in Paris - and I reckon we did. Not that we'll gloat. To be honest, we never do. I think that perception others get of our team is unfounded.

As for Froomey? It's now starting to dawn on him that he is a part of something really big. He obviously knows what the Tour is about, but this year it is really special. With it being the 100th Tour, to win on Mont Ventoux - one of cycling's legendary mountains - with the race leader's yellow jersey on is a huge achievement.

Froomey was over the moon at the team hotel afterwards on Sunday night. He doesn't really show it, but being his roommate I could tell. He was a happy man.

He will never forget what he did today - nor should he. But first up, Froomey knows he has to win the Tour that - after Monday's rest day - will resume on Tuesday with stage 16 to Gap, followed by Wednesday's mountain time trial and three extremely hard days in the Alps before that final charge into Paris on Sunday.

A lot can still happen in the race. Others, I'm sure, will have their ideas on how they can still test us. So when they try, we have to be ready and able to act on it.