BRITON BRADLEY WIGGINS won the 70th edition of the Paris-Nice race on Sunday with victory in the concluding time-trial stage.
Wiggins clung to his overnight six-second lead from Dutchman Liewe Westra, holding firm in the 9.6km uphill dash from Nice to Col d’Eze to become the first Briton to win the race since Tom Simpson in 1967.
Team Sky’s Wiggins finished two seconds ahead of Vacansoleil-DMC’s Westra in a time of 19 minutes 12 seconds, with Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde a further 52 seconds back in third.
Westra went head-to-head with Wiggins on the mountainous stage but saw the final deficit stretched to eight seconds.
Valverde ended one minute and 10 seconds adrift in third overall.
The 31-year-old Wiggins had his 2011 Tour de France cruelly cut short after he broke his collar bone in a freak crash, but will be one of the favourites at the prestigious race this year.
