Vinokourov was in powerful form in the stage

Vinokourov, who finished in the same time as Danielson, has an advantage of nine seconds over the previous leader Alejandro Valverde of Spain.

Vinokourov broke away on the last climb and caught Danielson with 3km to go.

"We saw Valverde wasn't going well on the climb and used that to our advantage," Vinokourov said.

Vinokourov started the stage one minute and 42 seconds behind Valverde.

The Spaniard lost 1.39 to his rival on the stage and the 12-second bonus that the Kazakh took for finishing second allowed him to take the lead.

Vinokourov missed this year's Tour de France after five of his team-mates were implicated in the Spanish doping investigation that rocked the race, leaving the team with too few riders to take part.

Stage 17 results
1. Tom Danielson (U.S. / Discovery Channel ) 4:09:55"
2. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz/Astana ) same time
3. Samuel Sanchez (Sp/Euskaltel ) +1:10"
4. Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz/Astana ) +1:39"
5. Carlos Sastre (Sp/Team CSC ) s.t.
6. Stephane Goubert (Fra/AG2R ) s.t.
7. Luis Perez Rodriguez (Sp/Cofidis ) s.t.
8. Alejandro Valverde (Sp/Caisse d'Epargne ) s.t.
9. Jose Angel Gomez Marchante (Sp/Saunier Duval ) s.t.
10. Leonardo Piepoli (Ita/Saunier Duval ) s.t.

Overall Standings
1. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz/Astana ) 67:29:41"
2. Alejandro Valverde (Sp/Caisse d'Epargne ) +9"
3. Carlos Sastre (Sp/Team CSC ) +1:51"
4. Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz/Astana ) +2:14"
5. Jose Angel Gomez Marchante (Sp/Saunier Duval ) +4:32"
6. Tom Danielson (US/Discovery Channel ) +6:09"
7. Manuel Beltran (Sp/Discovery Channel ) +6:33"
8. Samuel Sanchez (Sp/Euskaltel ) +7:25"
9. Vladimir Karpets (Rus/Caisse d'Epargne ) +7:39"
10. Luis Perez Rodriguez (Sp/Cofidis ) +9:04"