UK's Wiggins set to win Tour de France

Bradley Wiggins is hours away from sealing an historic Tour de France victory that would place him firmly in the pantheon of British sporting greats.

Barring a freak accident, the triple Olympic gold medallist is poised to become the first British winner of the coveted yellow jersey in the 99th edition of the gruelling race.

The 32-year-old is almost certain to enjoy a victory procession on Paris’s Champs-Elysees after stretching his lead yesterday with an imperious performance in winning the 53.5km time-trial stage from Bonneval to Chartres.

As part of his stunning transition from track to road racing, Wiggins finished fourth in the Tour in 2009 – equalling Robert Millar’s 1984 British best – but crashed out with a broken collarbone when among the favourites in 2011.

Wiggins is set to realise Team Sky leader Dave Brailsford’s goal of using a scientific approach to deliver a British Tour victory within five years.

“I’ve got a lot of other things in my life that mean more to me than this, and I’d give it up tomorrow for that,” Wiggins said.

“But in a sporting sense it’s my greatest sporting achievement. I’ve just won the Tour. What else is there bigger than that?

“It’s probably the bonheur (happiest moment) of my sporting career, perhaps not in life.”

The final stage will be the 13th consecutive day that Wiggins has worn the race leader’s yellow jersey on a Tour he has previously described as a goldfish bowl.

He added: “The thing I kept reminding myself the last three weeks, which has given me perspective and kept me in reality, is the fact that it is only sport. It’s not life and death. It would be very easy in the Tour to lose that sense of reality.”

It is hard to over-estimate what Wiggins will have achieved. He has gone from mastery of the short distances required on the track to being a few hours from victory in the longest endurance event of its kind.

In three demanding weeks he has toiled over the Alps and the Pyrenees to complete the 3,497km race.

The man who until today was Britain’s best-known cyclist, four-times Olympic champion Chris Hoy, led the acclaim for Wiggins.

Hoy, who won three Olympic titles in Beijing in 2008, on Thursday described the prospect of Wiggins winning the Tour as “as good as anything any British athlete has ever done”.

Despite what is almost certain to be a sensational triumph, Wiggins insists he is not interested in the celebrity lifestyle that may be thrust upon him.

He has won over plenty of big-name fans on Twitter but said he was not fully aware of the impact his win could have.

“What sometimes happens in sport, it goes beyond sport and other people start paying attention,” he said.

“I even had a direct message from (footballer) Joey Barton. He particularly liked me swearing. I’m determined to not let it change me. I’m not into celebrity life, red carpet, all that rubbish. I go home and I have to clean up dog muck and that’s incredibly grounding.”

The margin of Wiggins’ victory answered many of those who questioned why Chris Froome, who appeared marginally stronger in the mountains, was not Team Sky’s Tour leader.

Wiggins and Froome – set to become the second Briton on the Tour podium – had lunch together yesterday and Wiggins dismissed suggestions of disharmony after Froome’s attack on stage 11 to La Toussuire, which seemed to expose a weakness in the Team Sky leader.

“There is no issue, there is no problem,” Wiggins said. “The reason we have been good these three weeks is because of what we’ve done as a team. That’s the reason we’re in this position now. Next year it could be Chris (in the yellow jersey).”