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Tour de France - Rambouillet - Paris

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  1. 17:15 - Thanks for joining us today - and for the whole of the Tour de France. It's been a pleasure reporting on the last three weeks and we hope you have enjoyed the ride. Allez Wiggo!

  2. 0km - Bradley Wiggins crosses the line, arms aloft, to become Britain's first winner of the Tour de France.

  3. 0km - Andre Greipel was nowhere to be seen there...

  4. 0km - Mark Cavendish takes the win comfortably ahead of Peter Sagan and Matt Goss!

  5. 0.5km - Wiggins flicks the elbow and allows Boasson Hagan through...

  6. 1km - The yellow jersey of Bradley Wiggins is on the front now - astonishing sights.

  7. 1.2km - Saxo Bank lead the peloton onto the Rue de Rivoli for the last time.

  8. 1.5km - Now Lotto Belisol muscle in, as do Saxo Bank. Argos Shimano are a bit further back.

  9. 2km - Team Sky are now on the front, with Rogers and yellow jersey Wiggins ahead of Boasson Hagen and Cavendish.

  10. 3km - The break is caught with 3km to go.

  11. 3.5km - CRASH: Two riders hit the deck - a Lampre and a Ag2R.

  12. 4km - Jens Voigt won't give up here as he churns away on the front of the trio. Behind, the jostling begins for positioning.

  13. 4.5km - Nick Nuyens of Saxo Tinkoff drives the peloton. The Voigt trio have just 10 seconds.

  14. 5km - Sky, GreenEdge, Liquigas and Lotto are all moving up. The Australians have a long way to come. Saxo Bank are there too, for JJ Haedo.

  15. 6km - The bell rings for the final lap. The gap is 15 seconds.

  16. 8km - Minard, Voigt and Costa still have 22 seconds as they go through the tunnel and enter on the Rue de Rivoli. Just one more of these.

  17. 9km - Back with the bunch, polka dot jersey Thomas Voeckler rides alongside his Europcar team-mate Pierre Rolland. They have had a superb Tour.

  18. 10km - The gap is 22 seconds for the three leaders. They're combining well, but it's surely doomed. the whole of Liquigas are leading the chase. they have already reeled in all the other escapees.

  19. 11km - GreenEdge now come forward, joining Liquigas, Sky and Garmin on the front. No sign of Lotto Belisol yet.

  20. 12km - Voigt, Costa and Minard are now out ahead. The rest of the break seem to have given up.

  21. 13km - The gap is down to 17 seconds as Jens Voigt opens up a gap on the Rue de Rivoli. Jens still has fire in his belly at 40 years of age.

  22. 15km - The Garmin-Sharp team of Tyler Farrar move to the front now. The American is third-last on GC and has a miserably Tour. This would put a smile on his face.

  23. 16km - Seb Minard is riding off the front of the leading group. They seem to have lost a bit of their cohesion. Voigt brings it back together.

  24. 17km - A reminder of the leaders: Jens Voigt (RadioShack), Sebastien Minard (Ag2R), Lars Bak (Lotto Belisol), Marcus Burghardt (BMC), Bram Tankink (Rabobank), Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Jean Marc Marino (Saur-Sojasun), Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Katusha), Rui Costa (Movistar) and Karsten Kroon (Saxo Bank). The lead is 20 seconds.

  25. 18km - Richie Porte is now on the front, driving the chase. The Tasmanian has had a superb Tour for Sky, and took fifth place in yesterday's ITT.

  26. 20km - Liquigas have taken over from Sky now in the chase - the gap is still 30 seconds, so they don't want it to get too large.

  27. 21km - Mechanical for Brice Feillu of Saur-Sojasun.

  28. 22km - Voigt still drives the pace for RadioShack. There are some big engines in this break. Bak was in the break last year in Paris.

  29. 23km - The gap is up to 30 seconds now for the leaders: Voigt, Minard, Bak, Iglinski, Edet, Lund, Kroon, Tankink, Kuchynski, Marino and Costa.

  30. 24km - The two other riders in this break are Costa (MOV) and Marino (SAU).

  31. 25km - Liquigas's Alessandro Vanotti comes to the front to help out Sky. In fact, a few Liquigas riders are coming forward now.

  32. 26km - Mark Cavendish this morning: "It's a special day with us with the yellow jersey and so we now want to put the cherry on the cake."

  33. 27km - Voigt (RNT), Minard (ALM), Lund (STB), Bak (LTB), Burghardt (BMC), Edet (COF), Tankink (RAB), Ignlinkiy (AST) and Kuchynski (KAT) are in the lead. Two more as well.

  34. 28km - Dumoulin is back on the peloton after that wheel change. Some names from the leading group: Voigt, Minard, Bak, Lund, Burghardt, Tankink and Iglinskiy

  35. 29km - The 11-man Voigt group has 13 seconds on the peloton. Names coming up. Meanwhile, Samuel Dumoulin has a mechanical underneath the Arc de Triomphe.

  36. 30km - The chasing group has made contact with the Voigt group.

  37. 31km - Sky are controlling things in the peloton. A chasing group of six has formed now.

  38. 32km - Voigt is now with five riders but the gap is minimal,

  39. 33km - Lars Bak has joined Voigt and Hondo out ahead, but the chasing group is right there. In fact, now Voigt is the only man out as it appears to be coming back together.

  40. 34km - Andre Greipel this morning: "I don't know why everyone just asks me about Cavendish - we also have to pay attention to Sagan and Goss. It's a dream for every sprinter to win on the Champs Elysees and I feel good."

  41. 35km - There's a number of riders now in pursuit, including Lars Bak of Lotto Belisol. But it looks to be coming back together.

  42. 35km - The Lanterne Rouge of this year's Tour is Frenchman Jimmy Engoulvent of Saur-Sojasun, who is 153rd place on GC, three hours, 57 minutes and 45 seconds down on Brad Wiggins.

  43. 36km - Voigt and Hondo plough down the Rue de Rivoli in the lead, past the famous Crillon hotel and onto the Champs Elysees. About five riders have pinged off the front of the peloton. They have completed three laps.

  44. 39km - We spoke to green jersey Peter Sagan this morning: "It's the last day to do something so I want to try and win in Paris. It's a beautiful goal to have."

  45. 40km - So, we have two veteran Germans with a 12-second lead over the Parisian cobbles. Many riders are trying to join them.

  46. 41km - German veteran Jens Voigt of RadioShack is riding hard on the front, as is Lampre's Danilo Hondo. They have opened up a gap.

  47. 42km - The circuit is classic: through the tunnel under the Jardin des Tuleries, a tight left-hand bend, a long slog down the Rue de Rivoli, then across the Place de la Concorde before going up the Champs Elysees towards the Arc de Triomphe, and then back down again to the Place de la Concorde. Then a right-hand turn, a tunnel, a ride between the Seine and Tuleries, and then down in the tunnel again.

  48. 44km - Ag2R-La Mondiale, Cofidis and Saur-Sojasun are all on the front - three French teams without a win in the race. Argos Shimano are there too.

  49. 46km - There's a lot of activity on the front of the peloton as numerous riders try and form a break.

  50. 48km - George Hincapie, riding his 17th and last Tour, is allowed to lead the peloton onto the Champs Elysees. In fact, the BMC rider pulls open a little gap with fellow American veteran Chris Horner of RadioShack.

  51. 50km - The pace is now beginning to resemble that of a proper bike race as the peloton starts the first of nine circuits around the centre of Paris.

  52. 55km - Team Sky are all on the front now - they will no doubt try and replicate that in 50km time when they attempt to lead out Cavendish for a third win. There isn't a cloud in the sky - glorious day in Paris.

  53. 58km - The riders have passed the Paris offices of both l'Equipe and Eurosport. They cross the Seine onto the right bank and are now riding along the river towards Trocadero. To their right they will soon see the Eiffel Tower.

  54. 62km - FACT: There has been only 1 team without a top 5 stage finish this Tour de France. Katusha's best result in a stage has been a 7th place by Oscar Freire.

  55. 63km - Thomas Voeckler is still milking the applause on the back of the peloton - and shouldn't he just. After a torrid first week, Voeckler recovered to win two stages and cross 11 peaks in pole position on his way to securing the polka dot jersey.

  56. 65km - The riders are entering Paris - the Eiffel Tower is in sight! Team Sky have come to the front, with Liquigas - naturally - sneaking in behind them. Yellow jersey Wiggins is near the back though, chatting to his old Garmin team-mate Christian Vande Velde.

  57. 70km - Ivan Basso and Alejandro Valverde were chatting away on the front of the bunch, but now it's Austria's Bernie Eisel and Australia's Stuart O'Grady have a laugh on the front. This will be O'Grady's final Tour - like George Hincapie, he's retiring at the end of the season.

  58. 75km - What was your most memorable moment of the 2012 Tour de France? Peter Sagan's celebrations? David Millar's win? All those other wins for Britain? Andre Greipel's hat-trick? Europcar's panache... send them through on the comment section below.

  59. 80km - Fabulous images of Versailles from above. The Tour TV cameras have once again done the host nation proud this year. Tourism must be booming...

  60. 83km - Thomas Voeckler is allowed to ride over to take a token extra point - that extends his KOM lead to 12 points over Frederik Kessiakoff. With one more climb before Paris, the polka dot jersey could increase his tally to 13 by the end of the day - unlucky for some.

  61. 84km - The peloton is onto the first of two minor climbs, the Cat.4 Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse. On this note, it's probably worth mentioning the fact Chris Anker Sorensen of Saxo Bank-Tinkoff has been named the most aggressive rider of the 99th Tour de France. He was on the attack during both stages in the Pyrenees and, on the day to Peyragudes, he sliced his fingers in an accident - but still battled on to finish 24th in the stage. Sorensen is 14th on GC and third in the KOM standings.

  62. 85km - Thomas Voeckler is having some fun off the back of the peloton, the Frenchman milking the applause from the home fans as he shows off his polka dot jersey and all the trimmings.

  63. 90km - The pace is beginning to rise a little as Movistar move to the front of the peloton. It's a lovely day in France, with the sun shining in a blue sky and temperatures in the mid 20s.

  64. 100km - The peloton rolls on through the woodlands between Rambouillet and Versailles. Everyone is in good spirits, with world champion Mark Cavendish particularly animated as he smiles to the camera. Wiggins is currently enjoying a good chat with Greg Henderson of Lotto. The New Zealander is completing his first Tour at the age of 35. In a couple of hours, the smiles will be gone as Lotto and Sky take each other on for the stage victory...

  65. 105km - This year 198 riders started in this Tour de France. If all 153 riders that have started today finish in Paris, it will be the smallest finishing peloton since 2008. Last year 166 completed the Tour.

  66. 108km - The remaining Sky riders have come together on the front of the peloton for some photos. Eight of their nine-man squad will ride into Paris. Kanstantsin Siutsou crashed out in stage three of the race. Only four teams have a full quota of riders: Liquigas, Lotto, BMC and Saxo Bank.

  67. 112km - Nice scenes as Bradley Wiggins rides along with defending champion Cadel Evans of BMC. The pair are in good spirits, chatting, laughing and then shaking hands. Evans struggled to replicate his form of last year, the 35-year-old finishing the race eighth, almost 16 minutes in arrears.

  68. 115km - Despite their woes both on and off the bike, RadioShack-Nissan won the team standings, 6:02 ahead of second-place Team Sky. RadioShack were the only other team to wear the yellow jersey, with Swiss Fabian Cancellara taking the maillot jaune after winning the opening time trial in Liege and wearing it for seven stages until Wiggins took over at the top. Team standings

  69. 116km - American 23-year-old Tejay van Garderen finishes the race in fifth place - the higest of any rider aged 25 or younger. BMC's van Garderen finished the race 6:13 quicker than his nearest rival in the white jersey competition - France's Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat), the youngest rider in the race. White jersey standings

  70. 117km - France's Thomas Voeckler won two mountain stages and was a constant attacking force in both the Alps and the Pyrenees en route to securing the king of the mountains competition. The Europcar rider pipped Sweden's Frederik Kessiakoff (Astana) by 11 points in the race for the polka dot jersey. Polka dot jersey standings

  71. 118km - Regardless of what happens today on the Champs Elysees, Slovakia's Peter Sagan (Liquigas) will win the green jersey. The 22-year-old Tour debutant has a massive 122-point lead on Germany's Andrey Greipel (Lotto) in the points classification, with Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) third. All three will no doubt fancy the win today... as well as the world champion Mark Cavendish. Green jersey standings

  72. 119km - Bradley Wiggins tops the standings after three weeks of racing. The 32-year-old from Kilburn is the first ever British winner of the Tour. What's more, his Sky team-mate Chris Froome finishes the race as runner-up. Froome is 3:21 down on Wiggins in the GC, with Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) completing the podium at 6:19. Belgian Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) is fourth at 10:15 and young American Tejay van Garderen (BMC) is fifth at 11:04. General classification

  73. 120km - The remaining 153 riders are riding through the neutral zone at the start of this final stage - with all jersey winners on the front of the pack posing for photos. The stage is about to get under way - but don't expect much full-blooded action until the race hits the streets of Paris. Right, they're off!

  74. 13:05 - If you were asleep all day yesterday, Bradley Wiggins completed the flat 53.5km individual time trial to Chartres in a blistering time of one hour, four minutes and 13 seconds to beat Sky team-mate Chris Froome by 1:16. Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) put in a solid performance to preserve his third place on the podium. Report: Wiggins dominates time trial, Tour all but won

  75. 13:00 - Welcome to live coverage of the final stage of this year's Tour de France, a 120km ride from Rambouillet to Paris. It will begin as a largely processional affair as Bradley Wiggins becomes the first ever Briton to win the Tour. But there will be a feisty finale with the expected mass bunch sprint everyone wants to win on the Champs Elysees.

Comment 36 - 56 of 56

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  1. You can hardly accuse Bradley Wiggins of lacking­ personality, m. I'd love to hear his response if­ you accused him of it in a press conference!

    From VillanD, on Sun 22 Jul 17:01

  2. As Bradley has won the Tour de France, he should be the­ one to open the Open the Olympic Games. Well done­ Bradley, the country should be proud of you.......

    From Graham, on Sun 22 Jul 16:55

  3. Well done to Bradley and team Sky who protected him­ well. From a neutral's point of view that­ wasn't a really exciting Tour and the fault is not­ with Bradley. Nobody really challenged him and the Tour­ might as well have finished after that TT where he made­ 3 mins on the rest. The crowds on the road­ weren't as big as last year's either. We need­ more personalities like Lance(even if you hate him).­ Sagan brought some fun into it.

    From m, on Sun 22 Jul 16:49

  4. Well said Ted. Your team, apparently Tottenumb,­ don't deserve to win anything next season. Harry­ Redcrapp and Daniel Levy 'going in different­ directions' in their forward thinking? What was­ that about?? No disrespect to Andre Villas Boas­ though; good luck to him - he'll need at Hot­ Spuds........

    From Guitar Boy Blue, on Sun 22 Jul 16:41

  5. We only give Medals and Knighthoods to British lads­ that saved your Belgian and French ARSES in two world­ wars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From P45, on Sun 22 Jul 16:40

  6. Congrats to all the Sky team - history made - I never­ thought IŽd see the day just like City winning the­ league and Lancashire winning the CC What a year!!!

    From David, on Sun 22 Jul 16:37

  7. Well done and absolutely brilliant achievement Bradley!­ Put the Union Jacks out! For the Olympic torch­ lighting, they ought to draw lotts, between Bradley­ Wiggins, David Beckham, Sir Steve Redgrave, and Sir­ Matthew Pinsent............ If Bradley Wiggins or Steve­ Redgrave win it, that would be bri-lli-ant! If­ it's 'Wiggo' , then that would be the icing­ on his Olympic cake! He will deserve the gold in the­ Olympics road bike racing!

    From Guitar Boy Blue, on Sun 22 Jul 16:36

  8. I got chills!

    From GREG, on Sun 22 Jul 16:34

  9. The commentator was comparing the win, as to England­ winning the football world cup.. So were the Sky Team­ all english. What utter rubbish comes out of some­ English commentators mouths..

    From Woodilie, on Sun 22 Jul 16:34

  10. Congratulations to Wiggins, and all of team sky! ­ fantastic, truly fantastic! The bitter tears of the­ haters makes the victory all the more sweet. LOVING­ IT!!

    From Ted, on Sun 22 Jul 16:31

  11. freddy maertens 1981 world champ won on champs elysse­ not in world champs jersey cos he was in green

    From mark, on Sun 22 Jul 16:31

  12. Well done

    From DEMII, on Sun 22 Jul 16:30

  13. Well Done Bradley and your team

    From Angela, on Sun 22 Jul 16:29

  14. 45. D Attenborough; are you THE Sir David Attenborough?­ Do you know, that your avatar (little piccie) is­ sideways around on your posting/s.....

    From Guitar Boy Blue, on Sun 22 Jul 16:29

  15. Champs Elysees ! or Rue de Cav from now on ?

    From Unchained malady, on Sun 22 Jul 16:26
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Well done Sky Team.This year you have the biggest­ laboratorys.

    From Szabolcs Trucz, on Sun 22 Jul 16:26

  17. GO CAV!

    From RiChArD, on Sun 22 Jul 16:25

  18. Simply the best Well done SIR BRADLEY WIGGINS

    From First L, on Sun 22 Jul 16:20

  19. Well Done , Wiggy ! (not many frenchies in the top ten­ !)

    From John, on Sun 22 Jul 16:17

  20. hello im sorry to say ive never seen the tour de france­ its not my thing but this year iched it all and ive­ enjoyed watching it.but i dont understand the rules how­ can somebody win about 6 or 7 place i just dont­ understand the rules

    From Bryan Smith, on Sun 22 Jul 16:09
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