Hincapie falls short

Team Columbia's Hincapie was part of a 12-man breakaway group that dominated the 14th stage of the Tour - a trek of 199 kilometres from Colmar to Besancon - and he finished eighth behind the winner, Katusha's Sergei Ivanov.

It looked at one point that Nocentini, who stayed in the peloton all day, was going to relinquish the maillot jaune but his AG2R team pulled out all the stops in the final few kilometres to keep their man top of the standings.

Nocentini now sits five seconds ahead of Hincapie, who is second having bumped Astana duo Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong down a place.

Frenchman Christophe Le Mevel, who was part of the breakaway group, moves into fifth place overall, just behind Armstrong.

Ireland's Nicolas Roche finished runner-up in the stage, 16 seconds behind Ivanov, with Hayden Roulston in third.

Nocentini was relieved to still be in yellow, and said: "I have to thank my team so much. I really wanted to keep the maillot jaune."

Russian champion Ivanov, who started the day 62nd overall, moves up a handful of places in the standings after this second Tour stage victory of his career. His first came in 2001.

"This one was harder," Ivanov, who bolted clear of the lead group with 10km left in the stage, told French television station France 2.

"I have been waiting for this for many years. It's an amazing victory. I was waiting for the moment to attack. While some riders made a little stop, I gave all my power. I just decided to go and gave it all I had."