Blistering Froome attack secures Bastille Day stage win to extend Tour de France lead

Britain's Chris Froome extended his race lead after a superb solo attack ©Getty Images

Britain's Chris Froome produced a superb ride in the closing kilometres of stage 10 of the 2015 Tour de France from Tarbes to La Pierre-Saint-Martin which saw him claim the stage win but also extend his overall advantage in the race for the yellow jersey.

Following the first rest day of the three-week stage race, the 167 kilometres stage presented the ideal opportunity for the general classification contenders to gain time on their rivals in the first summit finish of the race, with the final 23km seeing the riders make a 1.5km ascent up Col de Soudet.

It was no surprise on Bastille Day to see a Frenchman in the day's breakaway with Pierrick Fédrigo being joined by Belgium's Kenneth van Bilsen in a two-man move.

They were unlikely to be successful with their move, particularly after Team Movistar took control at the head of the peloton as they attempted to set a fast pace to help their Colombian climber Nairo Quintana gain time on his rivals, particularly Froome.

The plan appeared to be working as the ascent began with several notable climbers being dropped from the lead group, including Italy's defending champion Vincenzo Nibali, whose hopes of victory for the second consecutive year appear to be at an end after another damaging day in the saddle.

Another of the top contenders for overall victory, Giro d'Italia winner Alberto Contador, also appeared to be in difficulty as the gradient continued to rise and Team Sky took their opportunity to go on the attack and help Froome to increase his advantage on the Spaniard.

Having also dropped the American Tejay van Garderen, second prior to the stage, the lead group consisted of just Quintana, Froome and the race leader's team-mate, Australian Richie Porte.

Defending champion Vincenzo Nibali of Italy had another difficult day and is now nearly seven minutes behind Chris Froome ©AFP/Getty Images

Froome was, however, able to break clear with six kilometres of the stage remaining and went solo to the finish, winning the stage in 4 hours 22min 07sec, with Porte beating Quintana to second, ending 59 seconds behind his team mate.

"We didn't necessarily want to ride aggressively, we were happy to let a breakaway go, let other teams chase and be more defensive than usual," said Froome.

"But when I heard the big names were struggling and getting dropped, I told Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas: 'Let's push'.

"I could feel our rivals were in trouble after the rest day so my team-mates set up the finale for me.

"It's the dream scenario, I couldn't have asked for any better one, especially with Richie coming second and taking the time bonus away from Nairo Quintana."

Following today's stage, Froome now boasts a 2:52 lead over second-placed Van Garderen, while Quintana now lies 3:09 behind in third.

Spain's Alejandro Valverde, Thomas and Contador are separated by three seconds just over four minutes down on the 2013 winner.

Tomorrow is due to see another mountain stage take place with the 188km route from Pau to Vallée de Saint-Savin set to see the peloton take on a favourite climb of the Tour de France, the Col du Tormalet.