BESANCON, France: Vincenzo Nibali already has a decent set of Tour de France leader’s yellow jerseys, but he has one put one aside for Marco Pantani’s mother.

Should he prevail on the French roads, Nibali would become the first Italian rider to win the race since the late Pantani, the 1998 winner who died of a cocaine overdose 10 years ago.

“In spite of what happened to him, I would be very proud to succeed Pantani,” Nibali told reporters in a hotel car park on the first rest day of the Tour, which he leads with a 2:23 advantage over Australian Richie Porte.

Spain’s Alejandro Valverde is third, 2:47 off the pace, after compatriot Alberto Contador, twice a Tour winner, crashed out of the race on Monday.

“Pantani’s mother had offered me one of his yellow jerseys so if I win this Tour I will bring one of my yellow jerseys to her,” said Nibali.

The Italian, who is a great connoisseur of his sport’s history (“I can talk to you about Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi, but also about Bernard Hinault and Louison Bobet,” he says), knows that the road to Paris is treacherous.

Although the Astana rider believes the hardest stage was Monday’s trek to La Planche des Belles Filles, which he won to reclaim the yellow jersey, several traps lie ahead.

“The Tour seems easy now but it’s when everything looks easy that it becomes the most difficult,” he said.

“There are several riders who lie in wait,” Nibali said, citing Valverde and Porte.

Frenchmen Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot are fourth and sixth respectively with a credible chance of a podium finish and possibly better, according to Nibali.

“We saw it with (Michal) Kwiatkowski yesterday, he went from afar and quickly opened a four-minute gap,” said Nibali.

“We will not make the mistake of underestimating anyone. I made that mistake once, it was in the Vuelta last year and (Chris) Horner won.” His quest to become the sixth man to win all three grand tours continues on Wednesday with the 11th stage, a 187.5-km ride to Oyonnax featuring four short categorized climbs in the last 50 kilometers.

Only Frenchmen Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil, Contador, Belgian Eddy Merckx and fellow Italian Felice Gimondi have won the Tour, the Vuelta and the Giro.

Nutritional bar proved Contador’s undoing

Alberto Contador has revealed that he came a cropper at the Tour de France because he was trying to eat.

The two-time former winner crashed on a fast descent on Monday’s 10th stage and suffered a broken shinbone, forcing him to pull out of the Tour.

The Spaniard is known as one of the better descenders in the peloton but it was the desire to refuel on route that caught him out.

“I grabbed a (nutritional) bar, I had only one hand on the handlebars and I hit a pothole,” he said.

“I’m sad and disappointed, a lot of effort and sacrifice has been ruined.

“I had prepared better for the Tour than ever before, I wanted to win the stage.” Contador’s retirement from the Tour followed that of reigning champion Chris Froome, who broke his hand and wrist in crashes before quitting last Wednesday.

He has since said he will now aim for the Vuelta a Espana, which begins at the end of August, and took to Twitter to wish Contador a speedy recovery and a meeting at the Spanish Grand Tour.

But Contador, 31, said he couldn’t be sure he would be fit in time.

“The recovery time is between five or six weeks and three in the best case scenario,” he said.

“I’m not ruling it out (riding the Vuelta) it depends on how I progress.” If the pair were to meet at the Vuelta it would be a repeat of their battle two years ago.

Froome had finished the Tour in second place riding for teammate Bradley Wiggins and wanted to test himself as a team leader.

He had already finished second on the Vuelta the year before when again riding for Wiggins, who managed only third.

Contador was coming back from his two-year doping suspension and the Vuelta was his first major race.