MONTPELLIER, France — Alexandre Vinokourov's knees may have healed just in time for him to launch a surprise comeback at the Tour de France — a day after he considered pulling out and two days since he cried in the Alps.

A week after busting both knees in a crash on stage five, Vinokourov could not contain his joy at finally showing some attacking form on Thursday's 11th stage.

"I asked my teammates to attack because I felt good," Vinokourov said. "It's clear that I got my morale back today."

Vinokourov had been in such pain during Tuesday's final Alpine stage that he wiped tears away when speaking to French television. And, after struggling through Wednesday's 10th stage, he'd felt he could not take much more.

"If you ask my teammates, they will tell you I was inches away from abandoning yesterday (Wednesday)," Vinokourov said. "The osteopath worked on my knees last night until midnight, especially the left one which was quite blocked."

After a week when most observers wrote off Vinokourov's chances, the sight of the Kazakhstan rider attacking during the 113-mile route from Marseille to Montpellier was surprising.

With about 40 miles left, Vinokourov's Astana team accelerated, splitting the main pack in two — leaving French Tour hopeful Christophe Moreau and the small group trailing far behind.

That worked in the favor of overall race leader Michael Rasmussen.

"I think he definitely lost his chance of winning the Tour today," Rasmussen said of Moreau.

Robert Hunter won a close sprint to give South Africa its first ever stage win.

"I've done the Tour de France six times, and I'm the first South African ever to ride in it," Hunter said.

Hunter won in 3 hours, 47 minutes, 50 seconds, outpacing second-place Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland — who wore the yellow jersey for the first week — and Murilo Fischer of Brazil in third.

By The Associated Press