Nibali Secures Tour de France Victory
PARIS (Eurosport) - Italian rider Vincenzo Nibali secured Tour de France victory 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.
"I just thought about getting to the end of each stage and getting on my bike because that's what I like the most."
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. It was Martin's second stage win of the Tour and the third for his OPQS team.
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.
"I just thought about getting to the end of each stage and getting on my bike because that's what I like the most."
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. It was Martin's second stage win of the Tour and the third for his OPQS team.