CHAMROUSSE, France (AP) A brief look at the 13th stage of the Tour de France Friday:
Stage: The first of two tough mountain stages in the Alps, a 197.5-kilometer (122-mile) slog from Saint-Etienne in southeastern France to Chamrousse culminating with a daunting ascent of 18 kilometers (12 miles) with a 7.3 percent gradient.
Winner: Vincenzo Nibali got his third stage win of this year's Tour, attacking near the top of the final beyond-category climb to finish 10 seconds ahead of Poland's Rafal Majka in second and Germany's Leopold Konig in third, one second further back. Nibali was timed in 5 hours, 12 minutes, 29 seconds.
Yellow Jersey: Nibali strengthened his grip on the leader's jersey by leaving his top rivals struggling to follow him up the final climb. Spain's Alejandro Valverde rose to second place, 3 minutes and 37 seconds behind Nibali, and Frenchman Romain Bardet rose to third place, 4:24 back from Nibali.
Quote of the day: ''Today (Nibali) played it well. Now he can say `I've got all the cards, I can do what I want, when I want and if you try to slap me I give two slaps in return.''' - Team FDJ.fr boss Marc Madiot.
Stat of the day: 14 - the number of places in the overall standing that Team Sky rider Richie Porte dropped after losing touch with the race leaders on the final climb and finishing 8:48 behind Nibali. Porte, who started the stage in 2nd place, ended the day in 16th.
Next stage: Saturday's 14th stage is the final day in the Alps and takes riders 177 kilometers (110 miles) from Grenoble to Risoul. Riders will tackle legendary Alpine summits Lauteret and Izoard before the summit finish at Risoul, a 12.8-kilometer (8-mile) climb at an average slope of 6.9 percent.
