Tour de France 2010: Alexandre Vinokourov races clear to win stage 13

Alexandre Vinokourov blitzed the field with a fantastic solo effort 7km from the finish to win the 13th stage of the Tour de France and leave Mark Cavendish, who finished second, with no chance of claiming his fourth stage win this year. The Astana rider from Kazakhstan, who was banned for two years following a positive test for blood doping on the 2007 Tour, pulled away from the peloton on a short climb 7km from the end and made up for his disappointment at not winning yesterday, by digging deep to finish well clear of the chasing pack. Among the pack were Columbia's British rider Cavendish, who won the sprint for second ahead of Lampre's Alessandro Petacchi to keep alive his faint hopes of winning the green jersey awarded to the Tour's best sprinter. The yellow jersey remains safely in the possession of Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank who keeps his 31-second lead over the current Tour champion, Spain's Alberto Contador (Astana) intact. Seven-times champion Lance Armstrong fell off his bike in the zone before the start of the stage but made it to the finish with bruises on his elbow.