Pauilliac - Swiss Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara overcame the fatigue of three tough weeks of racing to win his first long time trial on the Tour de France's 19th stage on Saturday.
Saxo Bank time trial specialist Cancellara clocked a winning time of 1hr 00min 56sec on the largely flat but wind-hit course between Bordeaux and Pauillac to push Germany's Tony Martin into second place.
HTC-Columbia rider Martin finished 17secs adrift with compatriot and teammate Bert Grabsch in third at 1min 48sec.
It means Cancellara caps his 2010 campaign with another victory having started the race in Rotterdam by winning the prologue to take the race's yellow jersey.
And after finally adding a long time trial success on the race to his impressive list of victories the Swiss says he is now ready to sit back and savour some of the region's best tipple.
"Today I really wanted to win but I am also very tired. It was a long day for me and a very long three weeks," he said.
"But I'm happy, that's for sure. I've added another win to my big list.
"Thankfully there's only 100 kilometres till Paris, and then it's over. It was nice to get this win in such a nice place. I think tonight we will sit down and celebrate with a nice big bottle of wine."
In last year's final time trial on stage 18 Cancellara finished second, only three seconds adrift, to eventual yellow jersey champion Alberto Contador.
In 2008 the Swiss finished 21secs behind Germany's Stefan Schumacher, who was eventually disqualified after testing positive for the banned blood booster EPO-Cera.
Although there is one stage remaining on Sunday, it is expected to finish with a bunch sprint on the Champs Elysees with the coveted green jersey still up for grabs.
Contador meanwhile reinforced his grip on the yellow jersey after beating main rival Andy Schleck, Cancellara's teammate, by 31secs in the time trial having started with just an eight-second advantage.
The Spaniard will now go into Sunday's final stage with a 39sec lead on the Luxemburger, but Cancellara believes the Spaniard won't have it so easy in the future.
"Losing by only 30 (31) seconds to Contador in the time trial is not a lot eh?" added the Swiss.
"I'm not going to say how many Tours he's going to win, but if he continues like that .... he'll be around for a while in the future.
"He didn't win, but he was certainly one of the champions of this race."
Race standings:
1. Fabian Cancellara (SWI/SAX) 1h00min 56sec
(average: 51,2 km/h)
2. Tony Martin (GER/THR) at 0:17.
3. Bert Grabsch (GER/THR) 1:48.
4. Ignatas Konovalovas (LTU/CTT) 2:34.
5. David Zabriskie (USA/GRM) 3:00.
6. Koos Moerenhout (NED/RAB) 3:03.
7. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/GCE) 3:10.
8. Maartens Tjallingii (NED/RAB) 3:21.
9. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) 3:33.
10. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 3:38.