Tinkoff-Saxo's Michael Rogers continued his remarkable run of form, just three months after being cleared of the doping charges which robbed him of the start of his season.

Rogers, 34, won two stages at the Giro d'Italia in May and followed those wins up with a superb solo victory at the Tour de France on Tuesday.

The Australian, who was provisionally suspended by the UCI at the end of 2013 following a positive drug test, attacked with just under five kilometres left to race before holding off the chasers and time-trialling to victory.

Rogers was part of a group of four riders who hit the front with around ten kilometres to go. He was joined by Thomas Voeckler, Cyril Gautier (both Europcar) and Vasil Kiriyenka (Sky).

On the final section of the final 21 kilometre descent, Rogers took matters into his own hands, attacking and leaving his three former companions trailing. 

As he passed under the flamme rouge, indicating the start of the final kilometre, he held a lead of just under ten seconds, but that proved to be enough as he held out to take his first ever Tour stage victory.

“It’s amazing. I knew once I got to the bottom of the last climb, the race really began for me,” Rogers said.

“I knew Tommy Voeckler would be hard to beat. I tried a few times to drop him on the climb, but I couldn’t. I knew I had to outwit them in the final.

"Voeckler had a teammate behind, and he started playing that game, but I wouldn’t have it. I said, ‘listen, don’t play with me, you’re not going to beat me today, there’s no way.’

"On the descent, I thought, I’ve been in this position too many times to lose, I’m either going to crash or I’m going to win today.”

Italian national road race champion Vincenzo Nibali still holds the leader's yellow jersey with an advantage of 4'37"  over Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) is now third in the general classification.

The youngster said: “I struck a blow. I had great legs and I had to take advantage of that."

“Balès is a very tough climb but tomorrow is another great stage and I hope to still have good legs.

"My aim is third place but I’ll have to wait until Saturday night to see where I am because there’s a 55km time trial [that day] and I need more time on Van Garderen and Péraud.”

Wednesday's Stage 17 is relatively short, taking the peloton over 124.5km from Saint-Gaudens to Saint-Lary Pla d’Adet.