Great Brit: Wiggins creates history

The progress report
The final stage of the 99th Tour de France began at 2.15pm with 153 riders still in the race. As expected the early stanza of the ride to Paris was done at a tranquil pace with the average speed for the first hour just 31.7km/h. The two hills in the stage were the Cote de Saint-Remy-les-Chevreuse (cat-4 at 36.5km) and the cote de Chateaufort (cat-4 at 40.5km). Each of the leaders of the respective prize classifications – Wiggins (SKY), van Garderen (BMC), Sagan (LIQ) and Voeckler (EUC) – rode bikes that were coloured the same as their jerseys: yellow, white, green and polka-dotted, respectively.
Voeckler took the one point for the first climb; Plaza (MOV) was first over the second hill.

Hincapie leads peloton to the circuit: 11 get in The Escape
The peloton arrived in Paris after two hours and 10 minutes. Hincapie (BMC) led Horner (RNT) for the first of eight laps of the Champs-Elysées. Voigt (RNT) and Hondo (LAM) were the first to gain an advantage on the peloton; on the second pass of the finish line they were 8” ahead of the peloton that was led by Sky. With 32km to go, 11 men broke free of the peloton; the riders involved were Marino (SAU), Kuchynski (KAT), Bak (LTB), Burghardt (BMC), Costa (MOV), Minard (ALM), Voigt (RNT), Edet (COF), Tankink (RAB), Kroon (STB) and Iglinskiy (AST). With 25km to go, they had a lead of 27”. The maximum gain was 30”. Liquigas and Sky were the teams that took most responsibility for the chase. With 13km to go Voigt attacked and dragged Minard and Costa with him; 10km from the finish, they had a lead of 18”. With 4km to go it was down to 8” and Saxo Bank put four men on the front before Sky took control again and with 3km to go, the escape was over.

Cavendish: Champ of the Champs... again!
It was the longest sprint that Cavendish has done on the final day: racing on his own from the final turn all the way to the line. Matt Goss was on the wheel of the world champion and, try as he did, the runner-up from the world championships could do nothing to beat the winner of the rainbow jersey last September. Cavendish and Goss opened up a big gap on the others but Sagan finished quickly and pushed the Manxman all the way to the line but the salute was a display of true emotion as he racked up his fourth successive victory on the Champs-Elysées.
Bradley Wiggins finished in 53rd place as part of a group that was nine seconds behind Cavendish. The 32-year-old is the first British champion of the Tour de France.