PARIS

Twenty-three years ago, Bradley Wiggins marveled as Greg LeMond blazed a trail as America’s first Tour de France winner. Now, he has blazed his own.

The 32-year-old from gritty northwest London became Britain’s first winner of cycling’s greatest race on Sunday, ending a 75-year drought for his country with an imperial conquest of the roads in cross-Channel neighbor France.

Wiggins had locked up the yellow jersey a day earlier by winning the final time-trial and Sunday’s ride onto the Champs-Elysees was largely ceremonial for him.

But putting the coveted shirt to work one last time, he added a touch of class by providing a leadout to Sky teammate and fellow Briton Mark Cavendish to get his third Tour stage victory — the 23rd of his career — in a sprint. The Isle of Man native is a main contender to win road race gold at the Olympics in London, which has been a hovering presence over the peloton in this Tour.

Wiggins congratulated his teammates after crossing the line, hugged his wife, and clutched the hands of their two children. A soprano sang “God Save The Queen”, and Wiggins thanked the crowd with a touch of British humor.

“Cheers, have a safe journey home, don’t get too drunk,” he quipped after hoisting the winner’s bouquet, with the Arc de Triomphe behind him.

“It’s been a magical couple of weeks for the team and for British cycling,” Wiggins said. “Some dreams come true. My mother over there, she’s now — her son has won the Tour de France.”

This 99th Tour will be remembered for successes of other Britons too, like allrounder Christopher Froome, who was second overall, Cavendish and Scottish veteran David Millar — who won seven stages between them, a Tour record for Britain.

Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali rounded out the podium in third.