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Geraint Thomas is expected to win the Tour de France after protecting his yellow jersey in the Saturday time trial against Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle in Espelette.
Thomas will become the third British winner of the race. Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, whose trio have won six of the last seven editions, all in Team Sky colors.
Tom Dumoulin, his closest rival at the start of the day, won the race one second behind Chris Froome, but with Thomas just 14 seconds behind, the Welshman had more than enough in hand
Meanwhile, Dan Martin embarked more than two minutes in the time trial, but the rider of the United Arab Emirates – named the most combative of the Tour – Protect his top 10 and finish eighth overall
Thomas will carry a lead of one minute and 51 seconds on the traditional Sunday procession in Paris before the sprinters compete for glory on the Champs-Elysées. [19659002] Thomas was kissed His wife, Sara, and the head of the Sky team, Sir Dave Brailsford, on arrival, seemed to wipe a tear
"I can not believe it," he said.
Froome, who came here to pick a record He had to settle for third place on the Tour-5 podium and look for a rare Giro-Tour double, taking the last place on the podium of Primoz Roglic of LottoNL- Jumbo with his second place of the day
. Time differences seemed to show that Froome had beaten Dumoulin for a second to get on stage, but he was soon corrected.
"It's crazy," Dumoulin said. "I did not know anything about split times and I still thought that Froome had a second advance on me when I crossed the line." Wow. "
Thomas emulates Wiggins by converting himself an Olympic champion pursuit of the team in the winner of the world's largest road race.
The 32-year-old has never previously finished in the top 10 of a Grand Tour, however, in his only serious attempt to win one, he was forced to retire after a accident in the middle of the Giro of Italy last year.
Intermittent rain, the first major fall of the Tour, creates unpredictable conditions over the 31 km of Saturday.
There was a great fright for Thomas, who had to travel 19 km when the bike slipped under him in a right turn.
Thomas might have known that he had a buffer to play, but it was not easy since he was the fastest at the first and second time before 39, attacking the Pinodieta Pbad and going back
Dumoulin had to console himself with his third career victory.
Team Sunweb's day does not have an ideal start when it does not find its combination against the clock in the morning
but with its clothing sponsor based just across the Spanish border at Saint – Sebastian, an emergency call was placed and they badped him a new set of rainbow stripes from the world champion in time.
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