COLMAR (France), July 18 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 favourites 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.

Seven-time 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, 613 adrift, closely followed by the main pack.

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 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.

Results

1. Heinrich Haussler (Germany/Cervelo) 4hrs 56mins 26secs; 2. Amets Txurruka (Spain/Euskaltel) +411”; 3. Brice Feillu (France/Agritubel) +613”; 4. Sylvain Chavanel (France/Quick-Step) +631”; 5. Peter Velits (Slovakia/Milram) +643”; 6. Thor Hushovd (Norway/Cervelo); 7. Vladimir Efimkin (Russia/AG2R); 8. Bradley Wiggins (Britain/Garmin); 9. George Hincapie (US/Columbia); 10. Andy Schleck (Luxembourg/Saxo Bank); 11. Andreas Kloeden (Germany/Astana); 12. Thierry Hupond (France/Skil-Shimano); 13. Jens Voigt (Germany/Saxo Bank); 14. Christian Knees (Germany/Milram); 15. Fraenk Schleck (Luxembourg/Saxo Bank); 16. Grischa Niermann (Germany/Rabobank); 17. Nicolas Roche (Ireland/AG2R); 18. Matteo Tosatto (Italy/Quick-Step); 19. David Loosli (Switzerland/Lampre); 20. Alberto Contador (Spain/Astana); 21. Jeremy Roy (France/Francaise des Jeux); 22. Pierre Rolland (France/Bbox-Bouygues); 23. Christian Vande Velde (US/Garmin); 24. Frederik Willems (Belgium/Liquigas); 25. Linus Gerdemann (Germany/Milram); 26. Rinaldo Nocentini (Italy/AG2R); 27. Lance Armstrong (US/Astana); 28. Mikel Astarloza (Spain/Euskaltel); 29. Tony Martin (Germany/Columbia); 30. Carlos Sastre (Spain/Cervelo).—Reuters