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Danish cyclist Mickael Rasmussen has won the 16th stage of the Tour de France, and Spanish rider Oscar Pereiro has retaken the overall lead from American Floyd Landis.

Rasmussen finished the Alpine stage - which included the highest point of the tour at the 2646-meter-high Col du Galibier - in five hours, 36 minutes, four seconds. Carlos Sastre of Spain was second, one minute, 41 seconds back, with Pereiro third, nearly two minutes behind the winner.

Landis was not able to keep up the pace on the final climb and finished in 23rd place, more than 10 minutes behind the winner. The result means the American had to relinquish the leader's yellow jersey, and he has fallen back to 11th overall, eight minutes eight seconds off the pace.

With Wednesday's victory, Sastre moves up to second overall, one minute 50 seconds behind Pereiro. German Andreas Kloden is now third, two minutes 29 seconds back.

Thursday's 17th stage continues in the mountains and includes two category one climbs and one "hors categorie" ascent that is so steep it is not categorized. The Tour ends in Paris on Sunday.