Revenge will surely be on Alexander Vinokourov's mind when the Tour de France starts in London on Saturday.

Thought to have a great chance in 2006, the Kazakh's hopes were dashed on the eve of the Tour when five of his Liberty Seguros outfit were implicated in a doping scandal, leaving the team with insufficient riders.

Two months later, now riding for the Astana, "Vino" underlined his Grand Tour potential by beating local hero Alejandro Valverde in the Vuelta.

The bookies' favourite, the 33-year-old all-rounder's best Tour result was third in 2003.