Wiggins closes in on TDF glory

Chartres - Bradley Wiggins virtually secured his maiden Tour de France victory after winning the penultimate stage-time trial of the race on Saturday.

Wiggins, who took nearly two minutes from defending champion Cadel Evans when he won the stage nine time-trial over 41.5km, went into the 53.5km race against the clock with a 2min 05sec lead over Sky team-mate Chris Froome.

And after a smooth, controlled ride over a course that suited him to perfection, the 32-year-old Englishman increased his advantage on the Kenyan-born Briton, who finished second on the stage at 1min 16sec.

It means Wiggins will go into Sunday's final stage to Paris - which usually does not host a battle for the yellow jersey - with an overall lead of 3:21 on Froome.

Barring catastrophe, the Belgian-born Londoner will become Britain's first yellow jersey champion.

"I don't know what to say. Only one more day to go, and I've won the yellow jersey," said an emotional Wiggins.

Sky team manager Dave Brailsford said: "We made it our objective to win this race within five years with a clean, British rider, and that's what we've done. It might be a surprise to everyone else, but it's not a surprise to us."

Italian Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas capped a solid performance to cement his third place overall. He now sits 6:19 behind Wiggins and is certain to finish third in Paris as Jurgen Van den Broeck of Belgium dropped to 10:15 in fourth.

Defending champion Cadel Evans, meanwhile, had another day to forget.

He started the day in sixth place overall at nearly 10 minutes behind Wiggins and finished 52nd at 5:54 to drop one place to seventh overall at 15:51 behind the leader.

Having been upstaged by his younger American team-mate Tejay Van Garderen in the mountains, Evans suffered the humiliation of being overtaken by 'TVG' on the stage despite starting three minutes earlier.

Van Garderen is set to finish fifth overall at 11:04 behind Wiggins and has virtually secured the white jersey for the race's best-placed rider aged 25 and under.

Result of the 19th stage of the Tour de France, a 53.5km time-trial from Bonneval to Chartres on Saturday:

1. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) 1hr 04min 13sec.
2. Chris Froome (GBR/SKY) at 1min 16sec.
3. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP/RAB) 1:50.
4. Peter Velits (SVK/OPQ) 2:02.
5. Richie Porte (AUS/SKY) 2:25.
6. Patrick Gretsch (GER/ARG) 2:28.
7. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 2:34.
8. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/MOV) 2:46.
9. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 2:50.
10. Jeremy Roy (FRA/FDJ) 3:05.
11. David Zabriskie (USA/GRM) 3:12.
12. Mathieu Sprick (FRA/ARG) 3:20.
13. Ruben Plaza (ESP/MOV) 3:24.
14. Daniel Oss (ITA/LIQ) 3:27.
15. Anthony Roux (FRA/FDJ) 3:34.
16. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/LIQ) 3:38.
17. Christian Vande Velde (USA/GRM) 3:40.
18. Bert Grabsch (GER/OPQ) 3:43.
19. Andreas Kloden (GER/RSH) 3:49.
20. Jens Voigt (GER/RSH) 3:49.
21. Christophe Kern (FRA/EUC) 3:56.
22. Dries Devenyns (BEL/OPQ) 3:57.
23. Lars Ytting Bak (DEN/LTB) 4:05.
24. Maxime Monfort (BEL/RSH) 4:06.
25. Dominik Nerz (GER/LIQ) 4:14.
26. Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL/LTB) 4:22.
27. Manuel Quinziato (ITA/BMC) 4:24.
28. Denis Menchov (RUS/KAT) 4:28.
29. Aliaksandr Kuschynski (BLR/KAT) 4:28.
30. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 4:32.
31. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 4:37.
32. Daniel Martin (EIR/GRM) 4:41.
33. Sandy Casar (FRA/FDJ) 4:53.
34. George Hincapie (USA/BMC) 4:57.
35. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR/RSH) 5:08.
36. Eduard Vorganov (RUS/KAT) 5:09.
37. Johan Van Summeren (BEL/GRM) 5:11.
38. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 5:15.
39. Vladimir Karpets (RUS/MOV) 5:17.
40. Luca Paolini (ITA/KAT) 5:25.
41. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 5:31.
42. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/RSH) 5:32.
43. Kevin De Weert (BEL/OPQ) 5:33.
44. Chris Horner (USA/RSH) 5:33.
45. Peter Sagan (SVK/LIQ) 5:34.
46. Kris Boeckmans (BEL/VAC) 5:35.
47. Adam Hansen (AUS/LTB) 5:37.
48. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/AST) 5:38.
49. Fredrik Kessiakoff (SWE/AST) 5:48.
50. Michele Scarponi (ITA/LAM) 5:49.
51. Yann Huguet (FRA/ARG) 5:53.
52. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) 5:54.
53. Michael Rogers (AUS/SKY) 5:55.
54. Laurens ten Dam (NED/RAB) 6:01.
55. Andrei Kashechkin (KAZ/AST) 6:03.
56. Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ/AST) 6:06.
57. Yukiya Arashiro (JPN/EUC) 6:06.
58. Michael Schar (SWI/BMC) 6:07.
59. Christian Knees (GER/SKY) 6:07.
60. Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ/AST) 6:09.
61. Borut Bozic (SLO/AST) 6:12.
62. Michael Albasini (SWI/GEC) 6:12.
63. Simon Gerrans (AUS/GEC) 6:13.
64. Pierre Rolland (FRA/EUC) 6:14.
65. Egoi Martinez (ESP/EUS) 6:14.
66. Julien Fouchard (FRA/COF) 6:17.
67. Amael Moinard (FRA/BMC) 6:18.
68. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/SKY) 6:19.
69. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 6:22.
70. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/SAU) 6:24.
71. Albert Timmer (NED/ARG) 6:24.
72. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 6:24.
73. Johnny Hoogerland (NED/VAC) 6:28.
74. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 6:29.
75. Koen de Kort (NED/ARG) 6:31.
76. Jean Christophe Peraud (FRA/ALM) 6:38.
77. Nicolas Roche (EIR/ALM) 6:39.
78. Chris Anker Sorensen (DEN/SAX) 6:41.
79. Danilo Hondo (GER/LAM) 6:43.
80. Bram Tankink (NED/RAB) 6:44.
81. Giampaolo Caruso (ITA/KAT) 6:45.
82. Mark Cavendish (GBR/SKY) 6:58.
83. Greg Henderson (NZL/LTB) 7:01.
84. Sergio Paulinho (POR/SAX) 7:01.
85. Nicki Sorensen (DEN/SAX) 7:02.
86. Brice Feillu (FRA/SAU) 7:02.
87. Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (ESP/MOV) 7:02.
88. Rui Costa (POR/MOV) 7:12.
89. Sylvester Szmyd (POL/LIQ) 7:12.
90. Davide Malacarne (ITA/EUC) 7:14.
91. Dmitriy Fofonov (KAZ/AST) 7:17.
92. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 7:27.
93. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/RAB) 7:32.
94. Francis de Greef (BEL/LTB) 7:33.
95. Yury Trofimov (RUS/KAT) 7:35.
96. Cyril Gautier (FRA/EUC) 7:39.
97. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 7:47.
98. Daryl Impey (RSA/GEC) 7:48.
99. Pierrick Fedrigo (FRA/FDJ) 7:51.
100. Stephen Cummings (GBR/BMC) 7:51.
101. Joan Horrach (ESP/KAT) 7:54.
102. Jorge Azanza (ESP/EUS) 7:57.
103. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 7:57.
104. Pieter Weening (NED/GEC) 8:01.
105. Marcel Sieberg (GER/LTB) 8:02.
106. Jurgen Roelandts (BEL/LTB) 8:02.
107. Jerome Pineau (FRA/OPQ) 8:02.
108. Ruben Perez Moreno (ESP/EUS) 8:09.
109. Pablo Urtasun (ESP/EUS) 8:10.
110. Cedric Pineau (FRA/FDJ) 8:13.
111. Rafael Valls (ESP/VAC) 8:24.
112. Yohann Gene (FRA/EUC) 8:26.
113. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 8:36.
114. Jimmy Engoulvent (FRA/SAU) 8:36.
115. Jan Ghyselinck (BEL/COF) 8:40.
116. Gorka Izagirre (ESP/EUS) 8:46.
117. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 8:48.
118. Jelle Vanendert (BEL/LTB) 8:55.
119. Anders Lund (DEN/SAX) 8:56.
120. Matthew Goss (AUS/GEC) 8:57.
121. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/BMC) 8:58.
122. Nicolas Edet (FRA/COF) 8:58.
123. Martin Velits (SVK/OPQ) 8:58.
124. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 8:59.
125. Roy Curvers (NED/ARG) 9:00.
126. Simone Stortoni (ITA/LAM) 9:00.
127. Juan Jose Haedo (ARG/SAX) 9:02.
128. Romain Zingle (BEL/COF) 9:02.
129. Federico Canuti (ITA/LIQ) 9:03.
130. Andre Greipel (GER/LTB) 9:04.
131. Nick Nuyens (BEL/SAX) 9:06.
132. Sebastien Hinault (FRA/ALM) 9:06.
133. Jonathan Cantwell (AUS/SAX) 9:06.
134. Michael Morkov (DEN/SAX) 9:11.
135. Mickael Cherel (FRA/ALM) 9:11.
136. Luis Angel Mate (ESP/COF) 9:14.
137. Fabrice Jeandesboz (FRA/SAU) 9:22.
138. Jerome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 9:32.
139. Stuart O'Grady (AUS/GEC) 9:32.
140. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/EUC) 9:33.
141. Levi Leipheimer (USA/OPQ) 9:41.
142. Marco Marcato (ITA/VAC) 9:47.
143. Baden Cooke (AUS/GEC) 9:55.
144. Sebastian Langeveld (NED/GEC) 9:59.
145. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 10:00.
146. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 10:14.
147. Alessandro Vanotti (ITA/LIQ) 10:18.
148. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 10:19.
149. Sebastien Minard (FRA/ALM) 10:27.
150. Marco Marzano (ITA/LAM) 10:32.
151. Tyler Farrar (USA/GRM) 10:56.
152. Arthur Vichot (FRA/FDJ) 11:04.
153. Karsten Kroon (NED/SAX) 11:10.