Viva Italia! Nibali wins Tour de France

Vincenzo Nibali, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, passes the Arc de Triomphe on Sunday en route to winning the Tour de France, the first Italian in 16 years to triumph in cycling’s greatest race.

The 29-year-old Sicilian, who called himself “a flag-bearer of anti-doping’’ during the race, finished in the pack behind Marcel Kittel, who won the final stage in a sprint to the finish.

Astana team leader Nibali is only the sixth rider to win all three Grand Tours — France, Italy and Spain. The last Italian to win the Tour de France was Marco Pantani in 1998.

Nibali also won four stages, a feat not equaled by a Tour winner since Lance Armstrong won five a decade ago. He wore the yellow jersey for all but two stages since Stage 1.

His 7 minute, 52 second margin over runner-up Jean-Christophe Peraud is the largest since Jan Ullrich of Germany beat Richard Virenque by just over 9 minutes in 1997. [AP/NEWSIS]