Alexander Vinokourov was already laboring in the gruppetto Sunday after losing all hope of winning the 2007 Tour de France when he suffered one more insult on what was an already demoralizing day.

Vinokourov – who vaulted back into contention following Saturday’s stunning time trial victory in Albi - fell badly on his already-injured left knee after an overzealous fan’s flag became entangled in Astana teammate Serguei Ivanov’s wheel on the upper reaches of the Plateau de Beille climb, dumping them both to the tarmac.

“Because of the stupidity of a spectator, who put something in the wheel of Ivanov, he fell down and Vino’ also fell,” said Astana team spokesman Corrine Druey. “Vino’ landed on his left knee, causing him more pain from his previous injuries. We just hope it wasn’t something intentional.”

The mishap caused the proud Kazakh to lose even more time on a day that saw his chances of the ever-elusive Tour victory slip away on the punishing steeps of the Beille climb.

A dejected Vinokourov coasted across the line 81st at 28:50 back and fell from ninth overall to 30th at 34:12 back.

“I had nothing left in the legs. I had no more power,” Vinokourov said. “Since the beginning of the stage, I could note the legs were flat.”

Vinokourov threw in the towel on his Tour hopes on the HC Port de Pailhères when he couldn’t stay with his Astana teammates as the leaders powered up the first of two steep climbs on Sunday’s menu.

Vinokourov – who crashed so hard on both knees in stage five that doctors required 30 stitches to close the wounds – waved off TV cameras as he slid backward against the rising tide of the peloton, his dreams of winning the Tour disappearing up the road.

Riding in shame in the gruppetto, the injured and defeated Vino was being led by teammate Ivanov when crazed fans jamming the narrow passage up the Pyrenean climb ran alongside him. The fan’s flag became tangled in his wheel and both went skittering to the ground.

A Tour de France doctor stopped to quickly treat Vinokourov while the driver of the medical car chased down the spectator, who was hiding among the crowd behind a car. The fan pleaded that the incident was a mistake.

The crash was the final insult on an already-tough day for Astana.

Andreas Klöden fought through hip pain from his high-speed fall in Saturday’s time trial but couldn’t follow the key accelerations on the upper reaches of the Beille. Klöden finished sixth, 1:52 behind the winner, and slid into fifth overall at 4:38 back.

“It was a tough day for me because of my injury from the time trial,” Klöden said. “There was no way I could stay with Rasmussen and Contador when they attacked. There are still difficult stages to come, but I can only take it day to day.”