Haussler shines on rainy Tour stage

Cervelo Test Team rider Heinrich Haussler of Germany cycles during a break away during the 13th stage of the 96th Tour de France cycling race between Vittel and Colmar, July 17, 2009.

COLMAR, France (Reuters) - German Heinrich Haussler overcame the rain and cold to win Friday's hilly 200-km 13th stage of the Tour de France as the weather blunted the ambitions of the main contenders for overall victory.

The Australian-born Haussler crowned his best professional season with a stage win in Colmar after a long break during which he dropped his companions one by one to finish on his own.

With several tricky climbs, including the first category Platzerwasel 60 km from the finish, the stage looked a promising terrain for attacks.

But the favorites seemed content to stick together until the finish line and as a result, Italian Rinaldo Nocentini retained his six seconds lead over Alberto Contador of Spain.

"It was a hard day as we lost 20 degrees in 24 hours. Nobody took any risks with the rain and I managed to keep my jersey," Nocentini told reporters.

Seven-times champion Lance Armstrong, who looked very fit in the day's climbs, stayed third, two seconds behind his Astana team mate.

Cervelo team rider Haussler, winner of a Paris-Nice stage and runner-up in the Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo this season, finished four minutes 11 seconds ahead of Spain's Amets Txurruka, who chased behind him in the last two climbs.

France's Brice Feillu, winner of the seventh stage in Andorra, was third, 6:13 adrift, closely followed by the main pack.

"It's a big, big day for me," said Haussler. "I was lucky in spite of the bad weather or perhaps because of it.

"When I realized in the last kilometer I was going to win, I told myself 'don't crash'. It was lots of emotions."

LEIPHEIMER OUT

Armstrong and Contador's Astana team were missing a key element in their effort to quash attempts by rivals after Levi Leipheimer quit in the morning with a broken wrist suffered in a crash near the finish line of the previous stage in Vittel

But the Kazakh-based team never really had any work to do as their rivals decided to save some energy for the first stage in the Alps at the weekend.

"The day ended better than we expected," Astana team director Johan Bruyneel told reporters.

"We expected attacks by the Schlecks (Andy and Frank) or Cadel Evans. They did not take place. But days like this don't favor big attacks. It was cold and everyone was tired," he said.

Contador added: "Astana were strong. Then I don't know if our rivals did not have the strength to attack or if it was just too cold.

"Now I just need a good hot shower."

Andy Schleck's Saxo Bank team manager Bjarne Riis had a plan but it was canceled out by Astana.

"It was a long and wet stage where the crucial breakaway was denied," he said.

"We needed to have an outpost in the front group in the shape of (Fabian) Cancellara or Jens (Voigt) but they were not allowed to go as Astana immediately neutralized our attempts to create the stage."

The Vosges mountains only helped Italy's Franco Pellizotti take the best climber's polka-dot jersey away from Spain's Egoi Martinez while Norway's Thor Hushovd claimed the points classification green jersey back from Briton Mark Cavendish.

The Tour reached its second weekend without a doping case but the peloton was rocked by the news that Spaniards Ricardo Serrano and Inigo Landaluze, neither present on the race, had tested positive for the banned blood-booster CERA, a third generation EPO (erythropoietin) first detected on the Tour last year.

Saturday's 199-km 14th stage takes the bunch to Besancon before the first stage in the Alps on Sunday.

(Additional reporting by Julien Pretot)

(Editing by Alison Wildey)