The torrential rain started midway through Wiggins' ride and continued throughout Millar's, but the two British riders occupied first and third positions on the leader board for a period - and for much of the afternoon, even as the weather improved, it looked as though Wiggins might achieve his first ever stage win.

In the end, Wiggins' hopes were obliterated, partly because the rain stopped, the roads dried and the sun shone - but mainly because Alexandre Vinokourov produced an astounding performance, leaving the rest of the field wondering, and fearing, what he might be capable of in the final week.

"I am still five minutes down [overall]," reflected Vino after the stage, "but it was important for me to show myself and also the other riders, who thought I was out of this Tour, that I am still here. I am still going for the general classification."

Ultimately the story was not of Wiggins but of Vino and his Astana team. Having suffered through the first two weeks of the Tour - Vino's serious crash injuries from the first week seeing him lose significant time in the Alps; Andreas Kloden, his deputy leader, apparently riding with a broken coccyx - the Kazakhstan-backed Astana team roared back yesterday with a collective performance that was astonishing.

Astana filled three of the top four places, thanks to Kazakhstan's national hero - not Borat, but Vino - the third-placed German rider Kloden, and another Kazakh, Andrei Kashechkin. Both Kloden and Kashechkin crashed during the stage, but recovered quickly. In the circumstances, Wiggins did well to be the second non-Astana rider, with Australia's Cadel Evans strengthening his case as an overall contender with second.

Evans also moved up to second overall, only a minute, now, behind Michael Rasmussen, the Danish climbing specialist who was 11th yesterday in his least favourite discipline. He conceded all but one minute of his overall lead to Evans, with Kloden now looming ominously in fourth, but the Dane will be in yellow going into today's first of three critical stages in his preferred terrain, the Pyrenees. The main losers yesterday were Spaniards Alejandro Valverde and Iban Mayo, second and third going into the time trial, but both crashing out of the top ten here.

The question now is whether Vino, eight minutes down going into yesterday's stage, can still stage what would be one of the race's greatest comebacks. He was certainly impressive yesterday. "Avec panache!" hailed the French TV commentators as the pre-Tour favourite, still heavily bandaged from his first-week crash, was first to topple Wiggins, slicing two minutes, 14 seconds from the Olympic champion's time.

After the Alpine stages the normally impassive Vino had broken down in tears live on French television. His dream of winning the Tour was over, he sobbed. But now, incredibly, the dream could be back on. "You can be sure I will attack in the next days," he warned.

After his ride, Wiggins endured an agonising three hours waiting to see whether he might score his best ever victory on the road. "I went flat out and it felt great," he said after finishing. "I hadn't really planned to give it so much stick today, but I could feel I was on a good one. But I've felt good and been down [the leader board] before. I'll just have to wait now. I didn't take any risks. I hope the feelings I had merit a top-ten place, at least."

In the end he could be justifiably satisfied with fifth. Millar, who provided the last British stage win in the Tour in 2003, winning a time trial that was run off in similarly difficult conditions, finished not long after Wiggins and moved into a provisional third. He was full of praise for Wiggins. "Wiggo did a scorching ride," said Millar. "That'll be great for his confidence."

For Millar at least the change in the weather - after the heat of the Alps and Provence - was welcome. He has been suffering from a skin rash - caused by a sun allergy - that threatened his participation in the race. With the sun gone, he has a chance to heal. "For me this weather's great," said the Scot. "The conditions were treacherous, and I wish it could have been raining for everyone, because that would have given Wiggo a better chance. But I'm feeling really optimistic about my chances for the last week."

Rasmussen will also be feeling optimistic after holding on to the yellow jersey yesterday, but the heat remains on him on two fronts.

One is the controversy over his missed drugs tests before the Tour - according to reports he has missed four in the last 18 months. The second is an alleged episode from 2002, with an American mountain biker, Whitney Richards, claiming that Rasmussen tried to get him to transport a blood doping product, bovine haemoglobin, from the US to Italy.

Rasmussen admitted on Friday, when confronted with the allegation, that he knew Richards, but that he "could not confirm" the "shoebox" claim.

When he was asked about it again yesterday he responded: "I only answer questions regarding the race. I decided to put the last couple of days behind me and to focus on the race. That's what I'm here for."