UPDATE:
Italian rider Vincenzo Nibali secured Tour de France victory on Saturday as Germany’s Tony Martin dominated the penultimate 20th stage time trial and the host nation celebrated podium success.
Barring a final stage catastrophe on Sunday, Astana rider Nibali is assured of winning his first Tour title on the Champs Elysees as he takes an impressive 7min 52sec lead to Paris.
It is the first Tour victory by an Italian since Marco Pantani in 1998.
But for the rider nicknamed “The Shark” his achievement was taking time to sink in.
“I haven’t even thought about it yet, I’ve always thought about giving my maximum and not about what I might achieve or records or entering into Tour history,” he said.
“To be honest I made a really good race today, my condition was really good, I still have power after three weeks.
“It’s really hard to say but I think today it would have been hard for anybody to beat me.”
Three-time world time trial champion Martin was peerless in his speciality as he finished a huge 1min 39sec ahead of the rest, clocking an impressive time of 1hr 06:21.
Dutch time trial champion Tom Dumoulin was second with Czech Jan Barta third at 1:47, ahead of Nibali who was fourth at 1:58.
Luke Durbridge was the best of the Australians, the Orica GreenEDGE man finishing 19th at 3:38.
Overall, Richie Porte is the highest placed Australian, now 1hr 35sec behind in 23rd place after finished 72nd in the time trial.
It was Martin’s second stage win of the Tour and the third for his OPQS team.
“I didn’t expect to win the first stage so to be able to win two is great.”
The 29-year-old said he had felt the pressure of being the overwhelming favourite but said he simply had a great day.
“I really had to handle this pressure but I’ve learnt in the past how to do that.”
But it was the battle for podium places behind Nibali, who assured he will wear the yellow jersey after Sunday’s final stage to Paris, that was most gripping.
French riders Thibaut Pinot and Jean-Christophe Peraud and Spaniard Alejandro Valverde had started the day separated by just 15sec ensuring the fight for second and third place would be epic.
Yet Spanish time trial champion Valverde faltered badly.
Peraud, the 2009 French champion against the clock, comfortably overhauled his 13sec deficit to Pinot and turned it into a 12sec lead by the first time check after 19km.
But the 37-year-old punctured after 33km and, at the second time check 6km later, he’d lost a couple of seconds.
Peraud kept his focus and came home 44sec quicker than the 24-year-old Pinot to take second spot overall.
Pinot, who also claimed the white jersey for best young rider at the Tour, was nonetheless delighted to finish third having been 10th at the Tour two years ago.
“I was already happy with the white jersey but now a podium too is extra special,” he said.
“Three weeks ago I would never have believed I could finish third so it’s just joy and bodes well for the future.”
Peraud was so emotional at the end he could barely speak and quickly gave up trying.
It will be the first time since Richard Virenque in 1997 that any French rider has made the podium.
FRIDAY
Vincenzo Nibali confirmed his supremacy at the Tour de France with his fourth stage victory on Thursday.
The 29-year-old Italian won the 18th stage from Pau to the top of the Hautacam climb after 144.5km of mountainous terrain in the Pyrenees.
In doing so the Astana rider increased his overall lead to 7min 10sec ahead of Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, who was second on the stage at 1:10.
Pole Rafal Majka, the winner of two mountain stages, was third at 1:12 to secure victory in the King of the Mountains competition.
Jean-Christophe Peraud made it two Frenchmen on the podium as he came home fourth at 1:15.
The 37-year-old is just 13sec behind Pinot and 2sec ahead of Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, who had started the day second.
It means three riders are separated by just 15sec in the battle for second place, which should be decided on Saturday in the 54km time trial.
Although Pinot, 24, is second, he is widely regarded as the weakest of the three against the clock.
American Tejay Van Garderen came home fifth in the same time as Peraud to boost his chances of finishing in the top five overall.
He is sixth and trails 23-year-old Frenchman Romain Bardet by just over two minutes but the American is a far better time-triallist.
Thursday’s stage was all about Nibali’s total domination as once again he gave a demonstration in the mountains.
When he made his attack with 10km of climbing ahead he ate into loan leader Mikel Nieve’s advantage in no time and then simply rode away, gradually and steadily increasing the gap with every kilometre.
