Vinokourov claims the 13th stage

REVEL, FRANCE: Alexandre Vinokourov made up for sacrificing his own ambitions on the Tour de France when he capped a superb late attack on the 13th stage of the race victory.

Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck, of Saxo Bank, retained the race leader’s yellow jersey with his 31 seconds lead on main rival and reigning champion Alberto Contador intact ahead of Sunday’s first stage in the Pyrenees.

Vinokourov meanwhile grabbed the stage win he almost claimed on Friday in Mende, when Astana teammate Contador countered a late attack by Spaniard Joaquin Rodriguez to overtake the Kazakh rider.

This time, Vinokourov made no mistake with a perfectly-timed counter attack after Italian Alessandro Ballan had jumped out of the peloton with 8.7 kilometre remaining of the 196 kilometre stage from Rodez.

Vinokourov caught Ballan with ease then employed impressive bike handling skills on the rest of the downhill section to keep the peloton at bay on the downhill leading towards the finish.

Britain’s Mark Cavendish won the sprint for second place, the committed HTC-Columbia rider thus adding precious points to his tally for the green jersey.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2010.