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 159,5km ride from Val d’Isere to Briancon on Tuesday. The Kazakh rider finished three minutes and 24 seconds behind stage winner Juan Mauricio Soler of the Barloworld team.
At mid-point in the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong is in a familiar position, firmly in the lead. But there’s a key difference this year — he knows that his remarkable career is drawing to a close. ”Every day I get on the bike it is a countdown,” he said on Wednesday after preserving his race lead in the hardest Alpine stage.