Bradley Wiggins became the first British rider to win the Tour de France as Mark Cavendish claimed his fourth consecutive final-stage victory.
Wiggins, 32, finished in the chasing peloton in Sunday’s final stage around the streets of Paris with a winning margin of three minutes and 21 seconds. The Londoner’s Team Sky team-mate Chris Froome consolidated his second place with Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali third. It was Briton Cavendish’s 23rd stage win on the Tour.
That saw him surpass seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong and Frenchman Andre Darrigade in the overall stage-win standings, 11 short of Belgian Eddy Merckx’s record of 34. But the day belonged to Wiggins, who safely negotiated himself around the streets of Paris, to complete the formalities after Saturday’s stunning time-trial victory gave him an almost unassailable lead.