Jean-Christophe Peraud again put his great condition on show when he was able to follow Vincenzo Nibali in today's mountain stage of the Tour de France. However, the race leader gave no gifts at the end and won the sprint for second.

France's Jean-Christophe Peraud (ALM) took the wheel of Vincenzo Nibali to take third place in the stage and strengthen his 6th place overall, 6:08 behind the Italian.  

"I had the same sensations as in the Vosges," he said. "It was less warm, there was more air, and where there was air I can breathe. The goal was to try to attack with Romain in the finale. Nibali went before us. I went with him.   

"Nibali proved he was the strongest. For the GC, it's obviously a good operation. I tried to overtake Nibali but he deserves his nickname of shark, he doesn't give anything away.

"I wanted to go with him. The legs were food. To follow him was difficult but I placed myself in the slipstream and I saved a few watts. Finally he's like everyone else, he needed to save a little strength and I tried my luck."