CHAMROUSSE (France): Vincenzo Nibali continued to stamp his mark on the Tour de France with his third stage victory on Friday to increase his overall lead to more than three minutes.
The Italian champion proved too strong once again for his rivals as he rode away from the field on the final climb to Chamrousse on the 197.5km 13th stage from Saint-Etienne.
Reigning champion Chris Froome and two-time winner Alberto Contador may have crashed out of this Tour already but Nibali said he would have been difficult to beat regardless of their misfortunes.
“I think I’m in the best form of anyone in the Tour,” he said. “I’m sorry we don’t have the duel we hoped for with Froome and Alberto but I got here in great form to be very competitive and my level is very high.”
Australian Richie Porte totally cracked on a scorching hot day in the Alps and came home almost nine minutes behind the Astana leader to drop from second to 16th overall.
Only Spaniard Alejandro Valverde and Frenchman Thibaut Pinot of the contenders could offer any hint of resistance but still came home 50sec and 53sec respectively behind the winner.
Valverde moved up to second but is now 3:37 behind while Pinot, 24, is up to fourth at 4:40.
Romain Bardet, 23, climbed onto the podium as he came home 1:23 behind Nibali to keep hold of the young rider’s white jersey by just 16sec ahead of French compatriot Pinot.
But the day was all about Nibali, who showed he doesn’t need his team around him as he is simply the strongest rider at the Tour.
Chief lieutenant Jakob Fuglsang had crashed on the descent between the first category Col de Palaquit and the final uncategorised ascent to Chamrousse, while Michele Scaproni was having an off day. AFP