Chris Froome all-but sealed his fourth Tour de France title with a brilliant time trial in the penultimate stage.

The 32-year-old was third fastest overall in Marseille with a time of 28mins 22secs  - extending his overall lead to 54 seconds ahead of second place Rigoberto Uran.

But tradition dictates that the overall leader is not attacked on the final stage - meaning Froome will be able to toast his victory with a glass of champagne en route to the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Sunday. 

 
Frenchman Romain Bardet, who started the day in second place overall, suffered badly and only just managed to hold on to third by a single second ahead of Mikel Landa. Maciej Bodnar took the stage win with a blistering time of 28mins 15secs.
 
Froome said: "Obviously it was so close coming into this time trial. It was basically all still to race for out on the road today so I'm just blown away.

"It's definitely been the closest Tour de France I've won, the closest and most hard-fought between the rivals. I think given the route we had this year, it was always going to be a close race, but I didn't expect it would come right down to the line in this TT in Marseille."

For Froome - who also tasted Tour success in 2013, 2015 and 2016 - the dream is now to land a fifth title next year to take him alongside cycling legends Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
 
Interestingly, Froome is likely to become only the seventh rider in history to win Le Tour without claiming a stage victory along the way - the last man to do so was Oscar Pereiro in 2006.
 
Australian Michael Matthews came through the Marseille time trial in one piece and will now be looking forward to pulling on the green jersey and being crowned points champion in Paris on Sunday.