Bradley Wiggins sealed his Tour de France triumph with victory in the final individual time trial of the race in Chartres on Saturday.
The Briton punched the air as he crossed the line, clocking a fastest time of one hour four minutes and 13 seconds on the flat 53.5-km course from Bonneval.
As in the first long time trial of the Tour in Besancon last week, Wiggins’s team mate and compatriot Chris Froome was second, 1:16 adrift. Third place went to Spain’s Luis Leon Sanchez, 1:50 behind.
The Kenyan-born Froome will trail his Team Sky leader by 3:21 overall heading into Sunday’s 20th and final stage to Paris.
Italian climber Vincenzo Nibali finished a good 16th in the stage, to consolidate his third place overall, 6:19 behind Wiggins.
Last year’s Tour champion Cadel Evans finished nearly six minutes behind Wiggins and the Australian suffered the humiliation of being overtaken by his American team mate Tejay Van Garderen, who started three minutes behind him.
Van Garderen will take the best young rider’s white jersey to Paris in fifth place overall, two better than Evans.
The final 120-km 20th stage between Rambouillet and Paris should be a lap of honor for Wiggins, while his team mate and world champion Mark Cavendish will want to win the Paris bunch sprint for the fourth time in succession.