Team Astana’s Alexandr Vinokourov was the fastest rider in the 28th Chrono des Herbiers – Chrono des Nations in France. Vinokourov finished in Les Herbiers 1:07 ahead of French time trial champion Jean-Christophe Péraud (Creusot Cyclisme). Yuriy Krivtsov (Ag2R) finished third and Belgian TT Champion Maxime Montfort (Team Columbia) fourth. Tour of Lombardy winner Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) was 7th . It was Alexandr Vinokourov’s second win of the season since his comeback and his first for Astana Cycling Team. Earlier he was the best in the time trial of the Tour de l’Ain where he started for a Kazakh national team.

“When I passed Philippe Gilbert, who started two minutes earlier than me, I knew that I would have a superb finish time,” explained Vinokourov. “I really wanted to end the season with a victory for Astana to show my gratitude to the sponsors of the team who made my comeback possible. I was in the front in the Tour of Emilia, in the GP Beghelli and in yesterday’s Tour of Lombardy. I knew I would be good today. Now I have the shape to start in a Grand Tour. Unfortunately the season is over so I will take some holiday. On Tuesday I will leave for Kazakhstan to visit my family and to talk with some sponsors. I can start thinking about next season.”

Result Chrono des Nations, Les Herbiers, 48.5 K
1 Alexandr Vinokourov (Astana) 1:00:09, average speed 47.9 K/h; 2 Jean-Christophe Péraud 1:07; 3 Yuriy Krivtsov 1:12; 4 Maxime Monfort 1:42; 5 Florian Morizot 2:13; 6 David Le Lay 2:23; 7 Philippe Gilbert 2:34; 8 Andriy Grivko 3:01; 9 Julien Fouchard 3:12; 10 Thomas Voeckler 3:14