Wiggins finished in the chasing peloton in the final stage around the streets of Paris to claim a winning margin of 3min 21sec.

His Team Sky teammate and British compatriot Chris Froome consolidated his second place with Italy's Vincenzo Nibali third.

But there was also a slice of history for Cavendish as the victory gave him a 23rd stage win on the Tour which means he surpasses seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong and Frenchman Andre Darrigade in the overall stage-win standings and now stands 11 short of Belgian Eddy Merckx's all-time record of 34.

The win bodes well for Cavendish, who will be targeting gold in just six days time in the men's road race at the London 2012 Olympics, where he will be helped by the majority of his British compatriots from Team Sky.

Britain's Mark Cavendish wins the final stage of the 2012 Tour de France

"It is incredible," said Cavendish.

"It couldn't be more perfect, an amazing tour for us.

"It is incredible, the set-up said four years ago the aim was to win the yellow jersey and we've done it with a one-two.

"We've got one more job to do next week at the Olympics and it's going to be an amazing few weeks for us."

But the day belonged to Wiggins, who safely negotiated himself around the streets of Paris to complete the formalities after Saturday's stunning time-trial victory gave him an almost unassailable lead.

The 32-year-old Londoner, a three-time Olympic track champion, crossed the line with his arms raised having helped set up Cavendish's sprint victory in front of thousands of British fans on the Champs Elysees.

"I don't know what to say," said Wiggins,

"I've had 24 hours for it to soak in.

"I'm still buzzing from the Champs Elysees, the laps go so quick.

"We had a mission with Cav and we did it.

"What a way to finish it off.

"I've got to get used to being in the spotlight which is going to take a while.

"You never imagine it will happen to you but it's amazing."

It marks the end of a demanding three weeks for Wiggins which involved a mammoth 20-stage, 2,173-mile race over the Alps and the Pyrenees.

Bradley Wiggins celebrates with fans

Wiggins' victory comes after he finished fourth in the Tour in 2009 - equalling Robert Millar's 1984 British best - before crashing out with a broken collarbone when among the favourites in 2011.

But Wiggins showed no signs of faltering this year as he wore the yellow jersey for 13 consecutive stages while his winning margin will quieten critics who questioned why Froome was not Team Sky's Tour leader after appearing marginally stronger in the mountains.

Froome's time will come but by finishing second he gave Team Sky the rare feat of taking the top two podium places which has not been achieved since 1996 when Dane Bjarne Riis finished ahead of his German teammate at Telekom, Jan Ullrich.

It is also the first time compatriots have taken the first two places since France's Laurent Fignon finished ahead of five-time winner Bernard Hinault in the 1984 edition.

America's Tejay van Garderen, Bitain's Bradley Wiggins, Slovakia's Peter Sagan and France's Thomas Voeckler, the respective winners in the 2012 Tour de France

Elsewhere, Frenchman Thomas Voeckler of Europcar won the polka dot jersey for the race's best climber, with Slovakian Peter Sagan of the Liquigas team securing the green jersey in the points competition which Cavendish won last year.

Meanwhile American Tejay Van Garderen made up for BMC team leader Cadel Evans' disastrous title defence by winning the race's white jersey for the best-placed rider aged 25 and under.

Evans, who made history by becoming Australia's first champion in 2011, finished nearly 16 minutes behind Wiggins.

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