Cycling: Bradley Wiggins is almost certain not to be caught as he moved within three days of becoming the first British winner of the Tour de France after successfully negotiating the final day in the Pyrenees and putting further time on his rivals for glory.
Wiggins began the 143.5-kilometre route from Bagneres-de-Luchon to Peyragudes in the yellow jersey for a 10th day and with a lead of two minutes five seconds over Team Sky colleague Chris Froome, with Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) 18 seconds further adrift.
No other rider was within five minutes of the triple Olympic champion and Nibali knew he had to make a move, with Wiggins likely to perform better than him in Saturday’s penultimate day time-trial. But Wiggins, with able support from Froome, distanced Nibali on the finishing ascent.
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) won the stage, Froome was 19 seconds behind in second place, with Wiggins on his wheel in third.
Nibali finished 37 seconds behind in seventh, conceding 18 seconds to Wiggins and falling 2mins 41secs behind. Tomorrow’s 222.5km 18th stage from Blagnac to Brive-la-Gaillarde features three classified climbs, but could end in a sprint finish.
Daniel Martin finished in 10th place with Nicolas Roche 20 seconds further back in 12th. The results leave Roche in 11th place with Martin still well down the general classification after struggling with illness for the best part of a week.