Cycling: Quickstep's Tom Boonen produced a stunning late sprint to claim a photo-finish win in today's 178-kilometre Tour de France stage 12 from Montpellier to Castres.
The Belgian rider's surge, coming after Euskaltel rider Amets Txurruka and Bouygues Telecom's Pierrick Fedrigo had led for 125 kilometres only to be caught a kilometre from the finish, saw him pip Erik Zabel to the line by a matter of centimetres.
It was a thrilling end to a fascinating race and leaves Boonen, who also won stage six, with the green jersey — 20 points ahead of Robert Hunter, the third-placed finisher in Castres.
Denmark's Michael Rasmussen retained the yellow jersey despite the doping controversy hanging over his head.
This morning it was revealed the Danish Cycling Union had banned him from representing his country after the athlete failed to inform drug testers of his whereabouts on three occasions.
Regardless of the lingering drugs issue, Boonen only had thoughts for his win having missed Thursday's sprint after being delayed by a big crash in the final kilometre.
He told Eurosport: "Yesterday, I was not lucky, today was okay. I had won the last sprint before the Alps, now I win the last sprint before the Pyrenees. It's good for my morale."
The 26-year-old, dogged by erratic decisions in recent years, believes his growing maturity has helped his campaign this time round.
He added: "I have grown up. I'm a year older and see things not as crazily."