Stage winner Italy's Vincenzo Nibali, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, breaks away from the pack in the final climb toward Chamrousse during the 13th stage of the Tour de France cycling race in Chamrousse, France, Friday. — AP CHAMROUSSE, France — Vincenzo Nibali put the hammer down on the Tour de France when the Italian snatched a solo win in the 13th stage in a mountaintop finish as Australian Richie Porte blew up in the heat Friday. Astana rider Nibali went on his own in the long climb to Chamrousse to open a 3:37 gap over Spain's Alejandro Valverde in the overall standings. “I wanted to control the race. It was a very long climb, I thought it would never end,” said Nibali, who is looking to complete his set of grand tour titles having won the Giro last year and the Vuelta in 2010. Romain Bardet is third overall in front of Thibaut Pinot despite losing 30 seconds to his fellow Frenchman in the stage, a 197.5-km trek from St Etienne, as France looks closer to having a rider on the podium in Paris for the first time since 1997. Bardet, who holds the white jersey for the best Under-25 rider, is 4:24 off the pace with Pinot 16 seconds back ahead of the second stage in the Alps, a 177-km ride to Risoul Saturday. Porte, who started the day in second place overall, cracked early in the last ascent, losing over eight minutes to drop out of contention. The Sky rider, promoted to team leader after defending champion Chris Froome crashed out in the first week, lost contact with the yellow jersey group 12.5km from the finish as Nibali went for his third stage win of the Tour, the second in as many hilltop finishes. Poland's Rafal Majka and Czech Leopold Konig took second and third place respectively.Vallverde, however, took fourth place in the stage by outsprinting Pinot. — Reuters
