Chris Froome set to clinch 4th Tour de France win after time trial

Chris Froome will be crowned Tour de France champion for the fourth time on Sunday after extending his lead with a powerful ride in the time-trial on the penultimate stage in Marseille.

Froome, a 32-year-old Kenyan-born Briton who rides for Team Sky, finished third, six seconds behind stage winner Marciej Bodnar of Poland, who crossed the finish line of the 22.5km individual time trial in 28 minutes, 15 seconds.

“I’m so happy for Chris,” Nicolas Portal, Team Sky sports director, told broadcaster Eurosport. “It was a really strong time trial. Everything was under control for him. He didn’t take any risks, he paced himsef really well.”

Froome extended his lead to 54 seconds, with Rigoberto Uran of Colombia leapfrogging Romain Bardet of France into third going into Sunday’s run into Paris.

Barring an accident or other calamity, Froome is assured of the Tour de France victory as the final stage is traditionally a procession into Paris.

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“Moment of truth”

It was billed beforehand as “the moment of truth” in the Tour de France and Froome came through it with flying colors.

Riding in reverse order, Froome had been the last racer to go just after 4PM local time to loud boos and cheers from the French crowd.

Froome had started the time trial with a 23 second lead over France’s Bardet, who faded in the second part of the time trial and hung on to a podium finish by one second.

Against the backdrop of the Arc de Triomphe, Britain's Chris Froome rides to his fourth Tour de France win.

Froome toasts a member of his team during the last stage of the Tour de France race.

"Each time I've won the Tour it's been so unique, so different, such a different battle to get to this moment," said Froome.

"This year I think will be remembered for certainly being the closest and most hard-fought battle," added Froome. The Briton controlled much of the Tour but on stage 12 Italy's Fabio Aru did take hold of the yellow jersey.

Marcel Kittel of Germany and the Quick-Step Floors team celebrates his victory in stage two of the 2017 Tour de France, a 203.5 kilometer ride from Dusseldorf to Liege. With five stage wins already this year, the 29-year-old is just two away from breaking into the top 10 riders with most stage wins in history.

France's Thomas Boudat rides in the rain in a breakaway during the second stage of the 104th edition of the Tour de France.

Great Britain's Geraint Thomas (C) wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey rides in the pack past supporters during the 212,5 km third stage. The Welshman won the leader's jersey after victory in the first stage and held onto it until the fifth, when teammate Chris Froome surged into the overall lead. However, Thomas had to withdraw from the race after breaking his collarbone on the tough Col de la Biche descent on stage nine.

Peter Sagan (2-L) of Slovakia flicks his elbow towards Team Dimension Data rider Mark Cavendish (L) during the final sprint of the fourth stage. Sagan was subsequently disqualified from the Tour, before making an unsuccessful appeal to CAS. Cavendish suffered an injured shoulder which ended his hopes of overtaking Eddy Merckx as the Tour's most prolific stage winner.

Cavendish is interviewed by the media following treatment to his shoulder. The Briton was ruled out after scans showed a broken shoulder blade.

The pack rides past a sunflower field during the 207.5 km fourth stage of the Tour between Mondorf-les-Bains and Vittel.

The pack, including Thomas (C) wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, rides during the 160.5 km fifth stage between Vittel and La Planche des Belles Filles.

The fifth stage the Tour was the last time Thomas wore the yellow jersey. The 31-year-old, one of Froome's key helpers in the mountains, was forced out of this year's race after breaking his collarbone on stage nine, calling it "a bitter pill to swallow."

Kittel celebrates winning stage six of the Tour de France between Vesoul and Troyes (216km), his second victory of 2017.

The riders take in the picturesque eighth stage of the Tour betweenDole and Station des Rousses. Lilian Calmejane delighted the home fans by recording a second French victory of this year's Tour.

A horse rider is pictured in front of the pack as a media helicopter flies overhead during the seventh stage between Troyes and Nuits-Saint-Georges.

The peloton jostles during the 213.5 km seventh stage.

Calmejane remarkably still won the eighth stage despite coming off his bike with a bout of cramp.

Richie Porte receives medical assistance after his horror crash during stage nine. The Aussie sustained a fractured right collarbone and pelvis on the descent of the Mont du Chat.

The pack rides in the rain during the ninth stage between Nantua and Chambery.

The peloton rides past an emergency helicopter during stage nine.

Team Astana's Alexey Lutsenko is helped from the bushes after crashing during stage nine from Nantua to Chambéry. The same corner claimed Lutsenko's teammate Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev as another victim, with Thomas suffering the same fate as the chasing pack arrived minutes later.

The pack of riders in action during the nine stage of the Tour de France.

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Bardet nearly clipped the barier halfway through the race as he went for broke through the streets of France’s second-largest city, cheered on by thousands of spectators lining the route through the old town of Marseille.

Yellow jersey

But he paid the price for taking off too fast as he faded in the second part of the race as he climbed up a 400-meter long hill to the Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, the chapel overlooking the city on the Mediterranean, in a high gear.

Uran nearly crashed on the final corner before heading to the finish line inside the stadium, having to take his foot off the bike to steady himself.

Boos

Froome, meanwhile, never put a foot wrong as he raced steadily through the streets of Marseille, and almost caught up with Bardet, who had started two minutes before him, at the fininsh line to loud boos from the crowd inside the stadium.

Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford had told French television on Friday that Froome’s 23 second lead was “nothing.” He added: “Everyone thinks it’s done but it’s not. He has to avoid crashing or going too fast at the start.”

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The yellow jersey had only been lost once in the final time trial, when Cadel Evans made up a 57-second gap with Andy Schleck in Grenoble, according to Cycling News.

Having started with a 14-km time trial in the streets of Duesseldorf, Germany on July 1, the riders also competed in Luxembourg and Belgium and will have raced more than 3,500 kilometers by the time they finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris on Sunday. With just two rest days and 23 mountains or hills to climb in the Alps and the Pyrenees, the Tour de France is the sport’s toughest race.

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