Alexandre Vinokourov broke away near the finish of a 122-mile ride
through the Pyrenees mountains and crossed the finish line alone to
capture stage 15 of the Tour de France.

The Kazakh rider is a former race favorite whose faint hopes of
Tour victory vanished yesterday after he lost 28 minutes and 50
seconds to overall leader Michael Rasmussen (RAS'-muhs-ehn) of
Denmark.

It's Vinokourov's second stage win this year -- he won
Saturday's time trial -- and fifth overall in the Tour de France.

Rasmussen finished several minutes back along with Alberto
Contador. They remain one-two in the overall classification, with
the Spaniard still two minutes and 23 seconds off the lead.

Cadel Evans of Australia is third overall but lost more time to
the Dane and drifted to four minutes off the leader's pace.