Bradley Wiggins won the penultimate stage of the Tour of Britain yesterday as Holland’s Dylan van Baarle clung to his overall lead before the concluding criterium race in Westminster.

Van Baarle (Garmin-Sharp) had a 19-second advantage going into the first of two stages on the eighth and final day after soaring into the yellow jersey on Saturday’s seventh stage to Brighton.

Poland’s Michal Kwiat-kowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) was his nearest challenger, but could cut the deficit only to 10 seconds after the stage 8a 8.8km time-trial.

Wiggins won the stage in 9 minutes 50.71 seconds to move up four places to third overall, effectively sealing a podium place in his title defence, to move 22s behind Van Baarle.

Kwiatkowski finished in 10:06.78, but Van Baarle’s impressive time of 10:15.21 saw him retain the yellow jersey.

Intermediate and finish-line time bonuses are available on the 88.8km stage 8b — 10 laps on the same course as ridden in the time-trial — and the deficit is not insurmountable.

But with Kwiatkowski likely working for Omega Pharma-QuickStep teammate Mark Cavendish for a sprint finish it would take a serious trip-up for Van Baarle to be beaten.

Wiggins, who won the 2013 Tour of Britain title, began the day 47s behind Van Baarle in seventh, but rolled down the ramp intent on claiming a stage success from his home tour.

The 34-year-old Londoner is negotiating an extension to his Team Sky contract, which expires this year, and is targeting the Road World Championships time-trial in Spain at the end of this month.

Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) was second on the stage, 8s behind Wiggins, with Briton Steve Cummings (BMC Racing) a second further adrift in third place.