Sport

Nibali stretches lead with another stage win

Italian wins 13th to increase his Tour de France lead

The peleton early in the 13th stage of the Tour de France cycling race, over from Saint-Etienne to Chamrousse. Photograph: EPA
The peleton early in the 13th stage of the Tour de France cycling race, over from Saint-Etienne to Chamrousse. Photograph: EPA
Fri Jul 18 2014 - 16:39

Vincenzo Nibali claimed his third stage win of this year's Tour de France to increase his lead in the overall classification at the end of stage 13.

Nibali pulled clear over the final 3km of the hors categorie climb to Chamrousse in a move which also saw him take the polka dot jersey from Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).

Nibali (Astana) will now go into stage 14 with a three minutes 39 seconds lead over Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) who moved up to second in the standings after a bad day for Team Sky's Richie Porte.

Porte dropped off the back of the peloton midway through the final climb and was still struggling towards the finish as Nibali celebrated another victory.

READ SOME MORE

Nibali reeled in leading pair Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Leopold Konig (Netapp Endura) with 10km to go, before pulling clear in the final stages.

Majka pipped Konig to second place on the podium while Valverde battled to a fourth-place finish.