Rasmussen holds on to lead

ALBI, France – At the Tour de France, timing is everything.

Michael Rasmussen of Denmark, dogged by new doping accusations, turned in the time trial of his life Saturday to keep the race leader’s yellow jersey heading into three mountain stages, his specialty.

He needed the all-out effort after Alexandre Vinokourov powered to the day’s best ride, showing that he’s feeling much better after crashing and injuring his knees a week ago.

The Kazakh rider, baring his teeth, outclassed rivals as he finished the 13th stage in 1 hour, 6 minutes, 34 seconds in the 33.6-mile race against the clock in and around Albi.

“Now I think I can attack in the mountains with the legs I have,” said Vinokourov, who jumped to ninth place and is 5:10 behind Rasmussen. He entered the day 8:05 behind Rasmussen in 19th place.

It was an impressive turnaround for the one-time favorite as the pivotal final week of racing begins. Saturday’s shakeout could be a harbinger for how riders will fare on the more important time trial – a 34.5-mile 19th stage from Cognac to Angouleme on the day before the July 29 finish in Paris.

“For us, the Tour starts today,” Vinokourov said. “It was important to me to show myself and to the other riders who had counted me out that it was too early for the general classification to be decided. It’s not at all over.”

But the mountains are where Rasmussen has dominated. He was the Tour’s best climber for the last two years and first donned yellow this year after winning the second stage in the Alps last Sunday.

Rasmussen surprised himself with his strong ride in the time trial, which isn’t his strength, but had several explanations.

Roads began to dry out at the end of the stage, in which riders set off one by one in reverse order. Rasmussen, as overall leader, started last and benefited from tips his Rabobank teammates gave about the dangerous patches on the winding, hilly course.

And “obviously, the yellow jersey is a very big motivation factor,” he said.