‘Vino' Victorious... Once Again

The Progress Report
The 196km 13th stage of the 2010 Tour de France, from Rodez to Revel, began at 12.48pm. There were 176 riders at the start. The conditions were considerably cooler than the previous few days with temperatures in the mid-20s at the start. On the undulating course in the Averyon and Tarn departments, there were five categorized climbs, they were at Mergais (cat-4 at 24km), Begon (cat-4 at 31.5km), Ambialet (cat-3 at 72km), Puylaurens (cat-4 at 125km) and the final climb on the circuit near Revel, the côte de Saint-Ferréol (cat-3, 7.5km from the finish). The intermediate sprints were in Saint-Jean-Delnous (47km) and Caraman (158km).
While the peloton was in the neutral zone, Armstrong (RSH) crashed but he returned to the bunch before the official start.

Three Former Stage Winners Break Free
At the 4.5km mark, Chavanel (QST), Flecha (SKY) and Fedrigo (BTL) attacked and although Brutt (KAT) tried to bridge the gap the original three escapees were able to gain a quick advantage on the peloton. At the 20km mark, the peloton was 4’55” behind. At the first climb, the escape trio worked up its maximum gain: 6’00” before Lampre came to the front of the peloton and started working to ensure that the escape didn’t gain enough of an advantage to stay away all day.
Taaremae (COF) abandoned in between the first and second climbs of the stage.
The average speed for the first hour was 45.2km/h and 42.6km/h for the second hour. The peloton carefully marked the escape, and the advantage steadily dropped down: 4’55” at 56km, 3’35” at 122km, 2’35” at 136km… and it was all because of the pace setting done first by Lampre, who were joined by HTC-Columbia and, with 100km to go, Roberts of the Milram team.

Vinokourov Rewarded For Aggression
The peloton caught the three escapees 10km from the finish but the sprint teams didn’t get things all their way. Yes, they would take points for the green jersey – with Cavendish leading Petacchi and Boasson Hagen over the line – but they were racing for second place because of the aggression from yesterday’s winner of the ‘Fighting Spirit’ award. Wearing the red ‘dossard’ as the most aggressive rider of a day earlier, Alexandre Vinokourov raced ahead of the peloton that had been led by the HTC-Columbia team until the foot of the final climb. A moment of hesitation prompted Ballan (BMC) to attack and he led Roche (ALM) and Barredo (QST) over the top of the hill 7.5km from the finish. Right behind was Cunego (LAM) and LL. Sanchez (GCE) and an inspired ‘Vino’… with the climb behind, Ballan collapsed, retreated to the peloton and was dropped. But Vinokourov blasted ahead and increased his lead until he was 20” ahead with 1km to go.
With his celebrations, he lost a couple of seconds but Vinokourov savored his first “true” stage victory in the Tour de France since the 2005.
Cavendish led the peloton home with a stunning sprint but he was 13” behind the stage winner. Still, he moved up the rankings in the green jersey competition that is led, once again, by Alessandro Petacchi who was second in the stage. There are only two points between Petacchi and former leader, Hushovd, while Cavendish is now 25pts behind the Italian rider from Lampre.
Andy Schleck finished the 13th stage in 51st place, with the same time as Cavendish. There is no change to the top order of the general classification and Schleck will wear the yellow jersey for the third Sunday of the 2010 Tour.