Tour de France: Hushovd takes stage 16

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Tour de France: Hushovd takes stage 16

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Thor Hushovd won the stage 16 but defending champion Contador showed he was still in the reckoning.

20 July,2011 05:59 am

Tour de France champion Alberto Contador relaunched his yellow jersey bid with an unexpected attack on the 16th stage of the race, won by Norwegian Thor Hushovd.Hushovd, of Garmin-Cervelo, outsprinted Norwegian compatriot Edvald Boasson Hagen to take his second victory of the race after a rainy 162.5km ride over undulating terrain from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux.Frenchman Thomas Voeckler retained the race leaders yellow jersey but the Europcar leader, like the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank, lost time to both Contador and Australian Cadel Evans in a thrilling finale.Former two-time runner-up Evans finished 4min 23sec behind Hushovd to move one place up to second overall at 1:45 behind Voeckler.Contador and fellow Spaniard Samuel Sanchez crossed the line three seconds later at 4:26, with Voeckler and Frank Schleck in a 14-man group which battled to finish 18sec later.