third behind winner Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, and the American runner-up, David Zabriskie – both of . Vino dropped his chain in the middle of the 15 percent climb, but in his typical laconic manner brushed-off the mishap, explaining: I had a hard time putting it back on, but the time I lost only counted for second or third place, so it wasn't that important. Now, I'll concentrate on the road race, for which I'm really motivated. Vinokourov started the 2007 Tour de France as a definite "Yellow jersey favourite," with a new team backed by the same Kazakh sponsors who had taken over Liberty Seguros in 2006 – . The Tour started well when he placed 7th in the London prologue, losing only 30 seconds to time-trial specialist Fabian Cancellara. He was ranked inside the top 10 through the second stage, and he remained in contention for the overall until the fifth stage, when he experienced a misfortune. As the peloton accelerated before the final climb, Vinokourov fell heavily at high speed and tumbled into a ditch with 25k to go. He suffered severe cuts and abrasions to both knees and elbows, and serious bruising to his right buttock. The wounded Kazakh could be seen standing on the left side of the road, gesticulating while a frantic teammate struggled to fix his leader's damaged bike. The main field did not slow to allow Vinokourov to reintegrate with the bunch, but instead raced on towards the finish in Autun. He remounted and began to chase, calling back seven of his eight teammates to help his bid to regain the leaders. The Astana train pursued the favorites, until Vinokourov himself surged ahead of his companions and led the last wave of the chase. When he crossed the line, he finished 1–20 behind his main rivals, all of whom arrived together. After the dramatic crash and the serious injuries, he lost time in the Alps and was dismissed from the list of GC contenders. But despite his injuries, and after seemingly being written off by the press and his rivals, Vinokourov rallied and won the first individual time trial by 1:14 from Cadel Evans. He explained: I am happy with my performance, I am finding my legs again. Now I want to attack in the Pyrénées. I want to thank everyone in and around the team that encouraged me to get through