Bradley Wiggins (SKY) is poised to be the first British winner of the Tour de France. The winner of the first long time trial of the 99th edition will be the last rider to start the penultimate stage. His main rival is team-mate Chris Froome who was also second overall in the last Grand Tour he contested (the Vuelta a España of 2011, when he was 13” behind Juan José Cobo and 1'26” ahead of third place – Brad Wiggins).
Vincenzo Nibali (LIQ) holds third overall after 3,319.4km of racing in the 2012 Tour and the 2010 Vuelta a España champion is likely to finish on the Tour podium for the first time. He is 2'41” behind Wiggins and 3'12” ahead of Jurgen van den Broeck (LTB).
The Belgian in fourth overall earned his country its best Tour result in 25 years when he finished fifth in 2010. Today he will be fighting to maintain his position in the overall standings as the US sensation of the 99th Tour, Tejay van Garderen (BMC) is ranked fifth.