Evans wins the Tour as Cavendish takes final stage again

PARIS (Reuters) - Cadel Evans became the first Australian to win the Tour de France after staying safe in the peloton in Sunday's final stage won by Briton Mark Cavendish on the Champs Elysees for the third year in a row.

The 34-year-old Evans, the oldest Tour winner since World War II, showed resilience throughout as he broke three-times champion Alberto Contador's unbeaten run in a grand tour since 2007.

Luxembourg's Andy Schleck was second overall for the third year in succession, 1:34 behind Evans, who claimed his maiden grand tour title.

Frank Schleck was third, 2:30 off the pace as two brothers climbed on the final Tour de France podium for the first time.

Evans's victory also broke Spanish domination of the race after Alberto Contador (2007, 09, 10), Oscar Pereiro (2006) and Carlos Sastre (2008) had claimed five titles in a row.

The Australian only took the overall leader's yellow jersey after Saturday's final time trial in which he humbled Andy Schleck by 2:31, easily overcoming a 57-second deficit.

Cavendish was also made to wait to finally claim the green jersey for the points classification after starting the day with a 15-point advantage over Spain's Jose Roaquin Rojas.

He won the bunch sprint at the end of the 95-km ride from Creteil after once again benefiting from his HTC-Highroad team's lead-out train.

The Briton beat Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen and German Andre Greipel, who were second and third respectively.

Garmin-Cervelo, who won the team time trial and stages through American Tyler Farrar and Norwegian Thor Hushov, won the team standings.

Frenchman Pierre Rolland, who won the prestigious stage to l'Alpe d'Huez, claimed the white jersey for the best under-25 rider while Spaniard Samuel Sanchez won the polka-dot jersey for the best climber.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Alan Baldwin)