Vincenzo Nibali has won stage 10 of the Tour de France as two-time champion Alberto Contador pulled out after a heavy crash. Contador is the second of the pre-race favourites to withdraw after defending champion Chris Froome pulled out during stage 5.

Contador has been described as suffering from a serious knee injury, Tinkoff Saxo sports director Mauduit said that Contador “crashed badly. Before Pulling out, he told us he was in awful pain and couldn’t go any further on his bike.”

Contador’s exit further enhances Nibali’s prospects of a first Tour victory after he successfully reasserted his authority over the field with an excellent attack on the final climb. Nibali lost the overall lead to Tony Gallopin on stage nine, but came home 15 seconds clear of Thibaut Pinot to reclaim the yellow jersey.

At present Nibali’s nearest rivals are Richie Porte, who finished seventh, and Alejandro Valverde who finished third; however, both are more than two minutes behind him.

Early in the stage a big group broke free which included Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski, right until the final climb Kwiatkowski kept with Joachim Rodriguez and Tony Martin. However, the final climb proved too much for him and with a couple of kilometres to go he was left in the dust by Nibali and the rest of the top riders.

In the final stages Nibali accelerated to a level that no one could match. In a short amount of time he caught up with Rodriguez and over took him. In the end Nibali finished 4:45 ahead of the previous yellow jersey wearer, Tony Gallopin, to win the stage.

Nibali crossed the line well ahead of the field to win the stage and he is now at the top of the standings after ten stages.