the Alps. He also won stage 15, a mountain stage finishing in Loudenvielle. Blood doping suspension The next day (24 July) Vinokourov failed a doping control following his time trial victory. His blood had a double population of erythrocytes, which implied a homologous transfusion. He delivered a positive for blood doping on 24 July 2007. As a result, his team pulled out after being requested to withdraw by ASO president Patrice Clerc Vinokourov's B sample came back positive a few days later, and Cadel Evans was declared winner of stage 13. Vinokourov was stripped of his stage 15 victory, which was awarded to Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg. According to Phil Liggett, long-time commentator for the Tour, "It is incomprehensible that Vinokourov could do such a thing when he must have known he was under suspicion because of his dealing with disgraced doctor Michele Ferrari in Italy. He must have known he would be tested at every opportunity, and the time trial was the perfect occasion." Vinokourov received a one-year suspension from the Kazakhstan Cycling Federation. The UCI was angered by the short ban—a lighter sentence than those received by other cyclists found guilty, such as Tyler Hamilton and Ivan Basso—which would allow him to ride in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His team Astana then threatened to sue Vinokourov for damages, as did Cadel Evans and team , due to the publicity they lost for Evans not being named the winner at the time of the stage. In December 2007, Vinokourov announced his retirement. 2009–2010 Vinokourov, banned for a year after doping at the 2007 Tour de France, told the Belgian TV program Sporza that he wanted to race again in 2009. He said: I love cycling. I want to come back because I didn't want to end my career in this way. I feel as if I can win once again the big races. The UCI then renewed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, asking it to overturn the one-year suspension by the Kazakh federation and to impose a standard two-year ban. This appeal, originally filed in 2007, was dropped when Vinokourov said he was retiring. The case was retabled and the CAS ruled the ban would expire on 24 July 2009. Vinokourov made his comeback in Tour de l'Ain in August 2009, riding for Kazakhstan. In the third stage, a time trial over 8.6 km, he