Tour de France: Bradley Wiggins on brink of Tour history after time trial win

AN EMOTIONAL Bradley Wiggins was overjoyed after closing in on becoming the first British winner of the Tour de France with an imperious victory in the stage-19 time-trial to Chartres.

In the 99th edition of the sport’s most fabled race, the 32-year-old is poised to ride today’s 120-kilometre 20th stage from Rambouillet to the Champs-Elysees in Paris knowing he will return home victorious.

Wiggins, a three-times Olympic champion, began the 53.5km time-trial from Bonneval to Chartres with an advantage of two minutes five seconds over Team Sky colleague Chris Froome and enhanced his hold on the maillot jaune with a scintillating display against the clock to take a 3min 21sec lead into the final day.

Wiggins, who crashed out of the 2011 Tour with a broken collarbone, said: “It’s the Tour. It doesn’t get much bigger than this. You couldn’t write a better script. What a way to finish. I wouldn’t say it was a lap of honour, because it hurt. But I just wanted to finish the job off in style.

“There was a lot of emotion in the last 10k. Everything was going through my mind. All the years of getting to this point, my family, disappointments, crashing out the Tour last year, watching Cadel [Evans] in this very position a year ago in Grenoble. I always imagined what that would feel like and now I know.”

Wiggins completed the route in one hour four minutes 12 seconds.

Froome was 1min 16sec slower to place second on the stage and all but confirm second place, while Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) is set to complete the podium.

The margin of Wiggins’ victory answered many of those who questioned why Froome, who appeared marginally stronger in the mountains, was not Team Sky’s Tour leader. Team Sky were launched in 2010 with the stated aim of winning the Tour with a British rider within five years.