Vino is back in stage 13
Saturday’s Stage 13 of the 2010 Tour de France proved to be the comeback that Alexandre Vinokourov has been waiting for.
‘Vino’ has won three previous stages in the Tour de France, in 2003 and 2005, and has four overall victories, including his only Grand Tour victory, the 2006 Vuelta a Espana. When the Kazahk cyclist was suspended for doping in 2007, he announced his retirement, but two years later opted for a comeback. He earned the ‘Fighting Spirit’ award when he finished third in stage 12, and he went on to take first in stage 13.
“It’s like I said after the win in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, ‘Vino is coming back. This is the new Vino’. With my victory there, I asked why I always must prove my reform. This is the new Vino and I think everybody understands that now. I must win my popularity in France and I think this victory in the Tour helps… but I don’t want to talk anymore about 2007.”
In the thirteenth stage, 175 riders spanned the 196km from Rodez to Revel. There was one more contender at the check-in, but Rein Taaramae, riding for Team Cofidis, abandoned the Tour after the first climb of Saturday’s stage. Lance Armstrong crashed in the neutral zone but was back on his bike before the official start.
Less than 5km into the race, Sylvian Chavanel led an escape with Juan Antonio Flecha and Pierrick Fedrigo, gaining a 4:55 lead by the 20km mark. The trio reached a maximum gain of 6:00 after the first climb, the category four Mergais, at 24km.
“When you’re in an escape, you never think about if you can make or if you cannot make it,” said Flecha. “You just focus on what you’re doing at the moment. Once you’re in the breakaway, who knows if it’s possible. The truth is that you’re out there and you’ve got to have hope otherwise it’s not worth fighting for."
Team Lampre set the pace for the peloton to slowly shorten the gap. The escape was caught 10km from the finish line. The sprint teams were surprised to find they were racing for second place, after Vinokourov blasted ahead and finished 13 seconds ahead of the peloton led by Mark Cavendish in 2nd, Alessandro Petacchi in 3rd, and Edvald Boasson Hagen in 4th.
“It’s nice to win here again and it was a good victory,” said Vinokourov. “I’m very happy for my team, especially, because I think I helped give some good morale for the team. I’m disappointed that we couldn’t win yesterday but it gave us some good motivation and now we are ready for the three or four stages in the mountains.”
Petacchi took the green jersey back from Thor Hushovd and Mark Cavendish moved up in the points classification. Jerome Pineau failed to win back the polka-dot jersey from Anthony Charteau, but the fight remains very close.
“I’ve had to spend a lot of energy to keep this jersey, but the team helped me get there,” said Charteau. “Physically I am not very far from breaking, but I feel that I still have enough in my to be able to properly cross the Pyrenees.”
Armstrong participated in the stage 13 sprints, but he is no longer in the running for the race lead, which is now the domain of Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador. Schleck finished 51st, but still in the peloton with the same time as Vinokourov, as was Contador, and he will wear the yellow jersey for another day.
“Yesterday was a day for Alberto and today Vinokourov attacked and he actually made it to the finish… tomorrow it’s not up to him, it’s up to Alberto and me and others,” said Schleck. “Alexandre Vinokourov realized he is not going for the overall here but now he has a stage victory he’ll be going 100 per cent for Alberto.”
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