Vicenzo Nibali hails most "meaningful" Tour de France stage win

The Astana rider, who leads the general classification, won his third stage of this year's Tour in the gruelling 197.5-kilometre ride from Saint-Etienne to Chamrousse in scorching conditions.

On both of his previous stage wins the Italian was not in possession of the iconic yellow jersey and he was thrilled to be able to do change that on Friday.

"The high temperature had made it extremely hard," he said. "To win with the yellow jersey makes my stage victory more meaningful today."

Nibali was understandably ecstatic on the podium after the race as Team Sky rider Richie Porte - who started the day second in the classification - encountered trouble on the final climb and dropped out of the top 10.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) moves up to second but is three minutes and 37 seconds adrift of Nibali.

"If I looked happier on the podium than on the occasions of my previous wins, it's because I was delighted to have gained important seconds over Valverde and Porte," he added.

"I've looked at my adversaries a lot. My intention was to just control in the final climb but when I've seen Richie Porte in trouble, probably because of the heat, which can happen to anyone, my goal has become to gain important seconds over Valverde.

"I wanted to distance him in the overall classification."