Tour de France: Hushovd takes stage 16

Dunya News

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

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.