Le Tour 2010 - Stage 13 - Petacchi gets baulked and misses his 3rd win... oh, except it was for 2nd

Vinokourov took it, and a bold and exciting attack it was... by Ballan. Shame he couldn't keep it up. Vino caught him and won the stage but Petacchi would have won the sprint for 2nd - if he hadn't backed off as his gap disappeared. As he backed off (having jumped first) Cavendish accelerated down the middle. Petacchi re-opened full throttle but it was only good enough for 2nd, or 3rd, rather. Shame.

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Before the base of the climb the three were recaptured and the speed increased as Cervelo and Milram joined the fray. First to attack was ex-world champ; Alessandro Ballan, then Nico Roche and Carlos Barredo tried to catch him as Vinokourov and Luis Leon Sanchez came past them to bring the lead together, but Vino was the strongest and was off trying to do it on his own.

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"It wasn't the plan to try today," said Vinokourov, "But I'm going very well, and, after Ballan and Luis Leon Sanchez [Caisse d'Epargne] attacked, I counter-attacked and then decided to press on and try to win.

"I knew I'd be protected by my team behind, and it was important for us [to win] after the disappointment of yesterday."

Contador greeted his teammate with a smile and a high five at the finish, suggesting there were no hard feelings - at least from the Spaniard. "You'd have to ask him," shrugged an impassive Vinokourov when asked about Contador's reaction. "But you could see how happy he was."

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This time Vino did a very strong move bridging up to our own 'Ale' Ballan and continuing solo. Behind, the fast 2k climb had eliminated most of the guys to chase, so the speed was a bit irregular, making it hard to judge the sprint, even just to stay safe for that matter. Cav was impressive coming back on the descent, glad he didn't take out the Caisse d'Epargne guy in front of me as he passed on the inside....it was close...