Alexander Vinokourov (T-Mobile), winner at Paris-Nice for the last two years, clinched his second win of the 2004 race with a fine solo effort in the seventh stage on Saturday.

The 30-year-old from Kazakhstan broke away on the seafront of Cannes, 6km from the finish of the 185.5km stage from Dignes-les-Bains to Cannes, chased down Spaniard Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) – who had attacked at the summit of the Col du Tanneron, the last of the day's climbs, 20km from the finish – and brought the victory home in style, 18 seconds ahead of Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen (Fassa Bortolo).

Germany's Jens Voigt (CSC) won the bunch sprint 21 seconds behind the stage winner. Countryman and teammate Jorg Jaksche held onto the yellow jersey he claimed on the first day after winning a 13.2km time trial, and put an extra second on his main rival for the overall, Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), who is 15 seconds back going into Sunday’s final stage. American Bobby Julich (CSC) is third overall at 43 seconds, with George Hincapie (U.S. Postal) fifth, a further three seconds in arrears.

VDB, now sixth overall, was among the riders having a go today

Photo: Graham Watson

"I think Jaksche is going to win," Vinokourov said on the finish line. "He deserves overall victory, if he wins. He's made a lot of progress, and his team have stepped up to the mark for him."

As for himself, the two-time Paris-Nice winner said he was not out for the overall this year.

“I just wanted to win a stage in memory of my friend Andrei Kivilev, who died after a crash during last year's race,” he said. “I did it on Thursday, but I also discovered that I wasn't in such bad form and I decided to have another go today. The team worked, and near the end my legs felt good.

“When I attacked I didn't know if I would catch Sanchez. I said to myself, ‘I should go for it.’ When I saw the wind blowing along the coast, I thought it would do me a favor. I caught him then just went for it."

Not going for it was second-placed Rebellin, whose team has been less active in the race than CSC. He said afterward that he just didn't have the legs to attack Jaksche.

"I didn't feel too bad but wasn't up for trying to pull back the lead," said Rebellin.

Sunday's last stage will be raced over a 144km circuit around the town of Nice, but a number of big names have decided to give the finale a miss, including Michele Bartoli (CSC) and Quick Step teammates Richard Virenque and Tom Boonen, who were among the 17 riders to abandon on today’s stage.