Bradley Wiggins has become Britain's first ever Tour de France winner, ending the country's 109-year wait for victory in sport's toughest endurance event.
The cyclist, wearing the leader's yellow jersey, safely completed the final stage - a 120km journey from Rambouillet to Paris which is traditionally a processional ride ending in a mass sprint on the Champs-Elysees.
There was more British success in the last stage after it was won by fellow Team Sky rider Mark Cavendish.
Wiggins had led the stage with one kilometre to go before Cavendish powered to victory in the final few seconds.
Another Team Sky rider Chris Froome finished runner-up in the 2,173-mile race overall.
He was three minutes, 21 seconds behind Wiggins going into the last stage and there was no change at the end of the 99th Tour de France.
The final stage was the 13th consecutive day that Wiggins has worn the yellow jersey on a Tour he has previously described as a goldfish bowl.
Before setting off for Paris, the triple Olympic gold medallist looked relaxed and said he had yet to realise the full meaning of his first triumph in the three-week event.
Wiggins pictured with his Team Sky team mates "I would never have imagined it, this is a dream," Wiggins said. "It's a weird feeling".
Wiggins confirmed his dominance of this year's Tour on Saturday, claiming the final time trial by more than a minute from Froome.
He has kept his emotions in check for the past three weeks but he punched the air with delight when he crossed the line in Chartres.
"In the last 10 kilometres of that time trial a lot of thoughts were spurring me on," Wiggins said.
"Like about when I was growing up and thinking as a kid that I wanted to win the Tour, but what chance did a 12-year-old form Kilburn have of doing that? First the Olympics and the World Championships, and now this.
"It's been an incredible road."
The man who until now was Britain's best-known cyclist, four-times Olympic champion Sir 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".
