91Èȱ¬

Britain's Bradley Wiggins clinched the biggest win of his road-racing career with success in the Criterium du Dauphine race in the Alps.

The Team Sky rider led by one minute and 26 seconds going into the 117.5km final stage and retained that advantage over Australia's Cadel Evans.

Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez, who won Saturday's stage, made it back-to-back wins by taking Sunday's finale.

Wiggins finished in 10th place, 11 seconds behind the Spaniard.

The win is a massive boost to the Londoner ahead of the Tour de France, which begins on 2 July.

He is the third Briton to win the traditional Tour de France warm-up race after Brian Robinson in 1961 and Robert Millar in 1990.

Wiggins took the overall lead in the race after a on Wednesday.

He then produced a considerable effort on the mountain stages to control the race and maintain his lead.

"We have a plan for the Tour de France and the Dauphine was part of the plan. I'm not 100% yet," said Wiggins, whose best Tour de France finish was fourth place in 2009, but he struggled in the mountains last year.

"I am just going to have to ride my race, not put myself in the red in trying to follow [Alberto] Contador and [Andy] Schleck.

"It's clear that the podium is certainly a real possibility, but others like [Belgian] Juergen van den Broeck can also get there."

Rodriguez broke clear in the last kilometre of the stage from Pontcharra to the mountain resort of La Toussuire.

Thibault Pinot of France was second and Dutch rider Robert Gesink was third on the stage - both eight seconds behind the Spaniard.

Stage results:

1. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa/Katusha) 3 hrs 24 mins 30 secs

2. Thibaut Pinot (Fra/FDJ) +8 secs

3. Robert Gesink (Ned/Rabobank)

4. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel/OmegaPharma-Lotto)

5. Alexandre Vinokourov (KZH/ Astana)

6. Chris Sorensen (Den/Saxo Bank) +11"

7. Cadel Evans (Aus/BMC Racing)

8. Kanstantsin Sivtsov (BLR/HTC - Highroad)

9. Janez Brajkovic (Slo/RadioShack)

10. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/Team Sky)

Overall standings:

1. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/Team Sky) 23 hrs 33 mins 24secs

2. Cadel Evans (Aus/BMC Racing) +1:26"

3. Alexandre Vinokourov (KZH/Astana) +1:49"

4. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel/OmegaPharma-Lotto) +2:10"

5. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa/Katusha) +2:50"

6. Christophe Kern (Fra/Europcar) +3:05"

7. Jean Christophe Peraud (Fra/AG2R) +3:30"

8. Kanstantsin Sivtsov (BLR/HTC - Highroad) +4:14"

9. Janez Brajkovic (Slo/RadioShack) +4:22"

10. Thomas Voeckler (Fra/Europcar) +4:30"