Vinokourov wins stage 15 of Tour de France

New Delhi: Kazakhstan's Alexandre Vinokourov has won the 196 kilometer stage 15 of the Tour de France on Monday

The 33-year-old Kazakh saw off the challenge from Kim Kirchen of T-Mobile and Spaniard Haimar Zubeldia who finished second and third for his second victory of the year. They both trailed Vinokourov by 51 seconds.

Meanwhile, Michael Rasmussen of the Rabobank team retained the overall leader's yellow jersey while finishing 10th and his main rival Alberto Contador of the Discovery Channel finished 11th.

With just six stages to go until the Tour reaches Paris, Rasmussen has a two minute 23 second lead over Contador.

But Rasmussen also faced flak for the doping speculation surrounding him.

Associated Press quoted UCI chief Pat McQuaid as saying, "With all this speculation around him it would be better if somebody else were to win."

"The last thing this sport needs is more speculation about doping," McQuaid said.

But McQuaid was quick to point out that Rasmussenhad not broken any rules and should be given the benefit of the doubt.

Rasmussen was dropped from Denmark's national team last week for failing to tell anti-doping officials of his whereabouts for drug testing before the race began.

He missed two drug tests by the Danish anti-doping agency in May and June, and failed to respond to two warnings from the International Cycling Union since April 2006. A third infraction with either the UCI or the Danish agency would be considered equivalent to a positive test and lead to a ban.

Vinokourov, a former race favourite whose faint hopes of a Tour victory vanished after he lost nearly 29 minutes to Rasmussen on Sunday, crossed the finish line alone in five hours, 34 minutes, 28 seconds.

"I wasn't motivated yesterday ... but the team told me I could still win stages. I gave my all," said Vinokourov, who has struggled to contend for the overall lead since injuring his knees in the fifth stage.

The Astana team leader broke away near the end of the 122-mile run along the Spanish border from Foix to Loudenvielle-Le Louron for his fifth career Tour stage win. It was his second this year, after winning Saturday's time trial.

(With inputs from Associated Press)