Alexander Vinokourov's hopes of winning the Tour de France ended in tears when he failed to keep up with the top contenders in the ninth stage, a 159.5-km ride from Val d'Isere to Briancon yesterday.

The Kazakh rider finished three minutes and 24 seconds behind stage winner Juan Mauricio Soler of the Barloworld team, who became the first Colombian to win a Tour stage since Santiago Botero in 2002.

Pre-race favourite Vinokourov burst into tears when he told reporters: "It was very difficult. I managed to stay with the favourites in the ascent of the Telegraphe but it was too hard in the Galibier."

It was a good day, however, for yellow jersey holder Michael Rasmussen. The Rabobank rider is now enjoying a lead of 2:35.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.