Martin completed the hilly course in one hour six minutes and 21 seconds, 99 seconds quicker than Tom Dumoulin of The Netherlands, while Jan Barta of the Czech Republic placed third, with Nibali next, a further 11 seconds behind.

With the final stage a celebratory romp around the streets of Paris before a bunch sprint finish on the Champs Elysee, today's 54 kilometre test against the clock was the last opportunity for something to go wrong. for the Italian, who has led for the last 17 days of the Tour.  

Nibali, a vastly improved time trialist in recent years, duly extended his lead by another 40 seconds after finishing ahead of all his main yellow jersey rivals.

That put the Astana rider, who has a previous Tour de France best of third in 2012, a mammoth 7min 52sec ahead overall. 

Vincenzo Nibali is now certain to win his first Tour de France title ©AFP/Getty Images



The Italian, winner of the the Giro d'Italia in 2013, three years after triumphing in the Vuelta a Espana, will become just the sixth man to win all three of cycling's Grand Tours.

His huge winning margin will also be the biggest since German rider Jan Ullrich won by more than nine minutes in 1997, a victory since discredited following the widespread suspicion he was on banned performance-enhancing drugs at the time.

Behind Nibali, France's Jean-Christophe Peraud overturned a 13-second deficit to leapfrog compatriot Thibaut Pinot and take second overall, despite having a flat tyre and needing to change bikes during the stage.

Spanish contender Alejandro Valverde, meanwhile, finished more than two minutes behind Peraud, and over one minute adrift of Pinot, to lie in fourth place overall. 

With this order now virtually certain to remain unchanged, the main attraction of the 137.5km finale tomorrow will see German rider Marcel Kittel can win the final stage of the race for the second year in a row. 

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