Vinokourov closes doping past with stage win

Alexandre Vinokourov scored his first victory on the Tour de France since completing a doping suspension after a gutsy attack late in the race's 13th stage from Rodez to Revel yesterday.

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

Vinokourov, who only returned to racing last year, was delighted with his win after capping a late counter-attack to Italian Alessandro Ballan with a determined drive for the finish line.

It is his first victory on the race since 2005, when he won two stages as part of the T-Mobile team.

"For me, just to be at the Tour de France is a victory. So, to win a stage makes me very happy," said Vinokourov, who served a two-year ban after being caught blood doping at the race in 2007.

"When I was racing as an amateur they used to tell me that winning a stage on the Tour is similar to winning the world championships. And that's true."

Vinokourov attacked late on Friday's stage to Mende, where he had to drop his own ambitions after Astana team-mate Contador countered a late attack by Spaniard Joaquin Rodriguez to overtake the Kazakh rider, eventually taking 10secs off Schleck.

This time, Vinokourov made no mistake. After Ballan had jumped out of the peloton with 8.7km remaining, the Kazakh joined a small group of riders in a bid to close the gap.

By the time he had crested the summit, Ballan had run out of juice. Vinokourov soloed past him with ease, and employed impressive bike handling skills on the rest of the downhill section to keep the peloton at bay.