Froome virtually certain of fourth Tour de France title

Cycling - The 104th Tour de France cycling race - The 22.5-km individual time trial Stage 20 from Marseille to Marseille, France - July 22, 2017 - Team Sky rider and yellow jersey Chris Froome of Britain on the finish line. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) - Britain's Chris Froome all but sealed a third consecutive Tour de France triumph and his fourth overall when he beat his yellow jersey rivals in the penultimate-day time trial won by Maciej Bodnar on Saturday.

The Team Sky rider was the third quickest of the 167 riders to tackle the 22.5-km course that started and finished in the city's Velodrome soccer stadium, provisionally extending his lead to 54 seconds going into Sunday's 21st stage, largely a processional ride to Paris.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Clare Fallon)