Kazakh rider Alexandre Vinokourov overcame the disappointment of losing any chance of winning the Tour de France by winning the 15th stage of the Tour de France, the second of three days in the Pyrenees, after a 196km ride from Foix to here on Monday.

Vinokourov had lost any chance of taking the yellow jersey in a disastrous ride in the 14th stage on Sunday, but he showed a great strength of charafcter in taking his second stage success on Monday - indeed his second in three days and fifth in his Tour de France career.

Dane Michael Rasmussen retained the overall leader's yellow jersey, 2minutes 23seconds ahead of Alberto Contador while Australian Cadel Evans is third 4min behind, having lost valuable ground on Monday.

The penultimate day of racing in the Pyrenees - Wednesday's stage to the Col d'Aubisque will conclude the climbing on this year's race - was brought to life by a thrilling duel involving Rasmussen and Spanish rival Contador.

Contador began the day in second overall at 2min 23sec behind the Dane, but on the final kilometres to the summit finish of the Col de Peyresourde, 12km from the finish, he launched attack after attack in a bid to close his deficit.

Rasmussen followed every single one, although Contador's offensive left plenty of damage in its wake.

Evans, who began the day third overall, ultimately failed to follow the Spaniard's first volley, and was left trailing for the final 2.5km of the climb.

Meanwhile Vinokourov, who had dramatically fallen out of yellow jersey contention on Sunday's stage - which he finished at over 28 minutes in arrears - surged onwards on his successful bid to secure a second stage success.

The Astana team leader had pulled away from a small group of leading riders on the 7.9km climb to the summit of the Col de Peyresourde.