Today, Saxo Bank wisely chose to leave the leg work to the sprinter teams in France where Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) got his revenge after yesterday's disappointment.

Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky), Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) and Pierrick Fedrigo (Bbox) took off early on today's 196 kilometer long and highly undulating thirteenth stage of Tour de France from Rodez to Revel and the trio worked up a 5-minute lead before the sprinter teams took over the control of the pace from Saxo Bank.

The trio gave up all hope ten kilometers from the finish line as the sprinter teams came thundering from behind dropping bunches of riders in high pace in the harsh cross winds. On the final climb, Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) created a gap to a rare mix of overall favorites and top sprinters. But no one was able to wheel in the Astana-rider who crossed the finish line alone.

Andy is still the overall leader of the race before tomorrow's demanding mountain stage in the Pyrenees.