THE former World Champion Tom Boonen has won stage 12 of the Tour de France, from Montpelier to Castres.

The Belgian outsprinted Germany's Erik Zabel and the South African Robbie Hunter after a two man breakway consisting of Amets Txurruka and Pierrick Fedrigo was cruelly caught a kilometre from the finish line.

Denmark's Michael Rasmussen retains the leader's yellow jersey, despite attracting the wrong kind of headlines on Thursday night, when he was excluded from the Danish national squad.

In a case that has echoes of Rio Ferdinand's suspension from football, Rasmussen was dropped by his national federation for repeatedly failing to alert drug testers of his whereabouts.

Rasmussen has not failed a drug test and therefore can continue to race.

However, by denying testers the chance to check him he has generated another wave of negative publicity for the race organisers.