Semnoz, France – Chris Froome of Britain virtually sealed his maiden Tour de France title when he retained the overall lead after Saturday's penultimate stage won by Nairo Quintana.
The Team Sky rider finished third on the 20th stage after attacking on the slopes of Semnez with Quintana and Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez who took second.
Froome leads Colombian Quintana by five minutes and three seconds overall with Rodriguez in third. Barring crashes, they will take the podium when the peloton crosses the line on the Champs-Elysees in Paris at the end of Sunday's parade.
It was a first stage win for Quintana, who is riding in his maiden Tour. He also has the white jersey for the best Under-25 rider and the polka-dot one for the mountain classification.
Slovakian Peter Sagan just has to finish the Tour to retained the green jersey for the points classification.
Former Tour winner Alberto Contador, who started the stage second overall, cracked on the final climb and had no answer when Rodriguez, Quintana and Froome sped away to fight out the stage win between them.
Spain's Contador, dripping with sweat, crossed the line over two minutes behind Froome and dropped down to fourth in the standings, 7:10 behind the Briton. – Reuters