Tour de France:Mark Cavendish was denied a 14th Tour de France stage win as controversial Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov won the 13th stage to Revel today. The British rider had hoped to claim his fourth stage win but Vinokourov (Astana), who in 2009 completed a two-year ban for blood doping, attacked on the day's final climb.
Vinokourov accelerated on the ascent of the 1.9-kilometre category three Saint-Ferreol and held off the peloton’s charge to claim the 196-kilometre 13th stage from Rodez to Revel,
Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) led the bunch home in second, with Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese) third, reclaiming the points classification leader’s green jersey from Thor Hushovd.
Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team) was eighth today, slipping two points behind Petacchi in the race for the maillot vert.
Cavendish, who is now 25 points behind with two probable sprint stages remaining, was magnanimous in defeat.
His HTC-Columbia team chased down the three-man break to put their man into contention, but they did not account for Vinokourov’s attack.
“They did an incredible job and delivered me perfectly to the hill,” said Cavendish of his team. “It was just about killing myself over the hill - I had to go so, so deep then.
“But when Vinokourov went, he went so, so fast. It was an incredible ride from Vinokourov.
“He deserved the win and to hold off the peloton it was a very impressive ride. I had to settle for second, that’s bike racing and we’ll try again.
“I was able to win the sprint and at least we salvaged something from the incredible work the guys did today.
“We can be satisfied with second.”
Cavendish began the day seeking to overcome a 35-point deficit to Hushovd. In the end, he won 30 points for finishing second to cut the deficit in the race for the maillot vert.
With just two sprint stages remaining - next Friday into Bordeaux and on the final day of the race into Paris - Cavendish is not yet thinking about winning the green jersey on July 25.
Cavendish, who overcame a difficult first week with wins on stages five, six and 11, said: “Anything can happen in the Pyrenees.
“I lost a lot of points in that first week and it’s just about minimising my losses and seeing where we go when we get to Paris.”
Petacchi won 26 points today and has 187 overall, Hushovd claimed 18 today and has 185 overall, while Cavendish is third on 162 points.
Irish rider Nicolas Roche finished in the group alongside Cavendish and came home in 30th to be 14th overall, some six minutes 44 seconds behind Schleck.