SIMON Yates admitted his white jersey win has not properly sunk in as he prepared for today's procession to Paris in the final stage of this year's Tour de France.

The Bury rider maintained the 2mins 6secs gap he had over closest rival Louis Meinjtes at the start of yesterday's penultimate stage – a time-trial around Marseilles.

Yates, aged 24, and South African Meinjtes finished in an identical time, 1:34 behind winner Maciej Bodnar.

The performance was enough for the former Derby High School pupil to be crowned the Tour's best young rider in waiting, ahead of the formalities of today's sprint to the finish line in the French captial.

He also held on to his place in the general classification, seventh overall, 6:14 behind Chris Froome.

As Team Sky leader Froome celebrates his fourth yellow jersey in five years, Yates will savour his time on the podium today, just 12 months after twin brother Adam became the first Brit ever to win the young rider's title since it was introduced in 1975.

“It will take some time, but it is starting to sink in,” Yates said about the white jersey. “I’m really happy and a little bit relieved that I have pulled it off too.

“I came here with the goal of winning this jersey from day one and that was no secret.

"For me it’s a great thing and I’m sure for the team (Orica-Scott) as well.

"Also with my brother winning it last year it’s nice to keep it in the family, and we hope we can turn them into another colour one day.

“Every day I have needed to, I went deep.

"I gave it everything and there were some days that I wasn’t good enough but I really tried to fight as much as possible and do everything I could and finally I have arrived here with the white jersey.”

Froome warned his rivals he is still improving after finishing third in the 22.5 kilometre time trial, which started and finished in the city's Stade Velodrome.

He increased his overall lead to 54 seconds from Colombian Rigoberto Uran, his former team-mate, who leap-frogged Frenchman Romain Bardet with a superior performance against the clock.

But such narrow margins can be explained by a Tour course which seemed custom-designed to downplay Froome's strengths, featuring only three mountain-top finishes and 36.5 kilometres of time trials.

Froome conquered it anyway, drawing on his experience and the vast strength of his team to keep rivals at bay.

Though the margins were narrow, the 32-year-old insisted that was not a sign he is on the wane.

"I'm definitely getting older but at the same time each year I like to think I'm still learning more, still developing as a rider, and becoming a more complete rider," he said. "Hopefully as a rider I'm still improving."

Froome's fourth win leaves him just one behind the all-time Tour record of five, jointly held by Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Jacques Anquetil and Miguel Indurain – a group Froome could yet join.

"It's a huge honour just to be mentioned in the same sentence as the greats of Tour de France history like that, but I'm really just taking it one race and one season at a time at this point," he added.

"I've certainly got a new-found appreciation for just how difficult it is for these guys to have won five Tours.

"It's certainly not getting any easier each year. This year was certainly the closest race of my Tour de France career."