Red-hot Petacchi strikes again
The Fassa Bortolo rider beat
Australia's Baden Cooke into second place while Petacchi's fellow Italian Fabrizio Guidi finished in third after the 230 kilometre sixth stage which began in Nevers.
Colombian rider Victor Hugo Pena, a member of the powerful US Postal team fronted by four-times Tour winner Lance Armstrong, again retained the yellow jersey he had originally won during the team time trial on Wednesday.
However, the sixth stage was notable for a mammoth breakaway which almost succeeded, featuring Australia's Stuart O'Grady and Frenchman Anthony Geslin.
The pair broke away around the 35km mark and gradually stretched their advantage to a peak of just over 18 minutes, after 82km.
But the pressure of staging a two-pronged attack at the front eventually began to tell and with 20km remaining, their lead had been cut to just two and a half minutes.
The leaders continued to flag in the closing stages with the sprinters in the chasing pack aware that the long wide finish gave them every opportunity.
The exhausted pair were overhauled just 500m ahead of the finish and Petacchi once again exhibited his finish power to great effect.
If Armstrong's US Postal team's win on Wednesday in the team time trial is discounted then Petacchi can now claim to have won three individual stages in succession the last hat-trick on the Tour was achieved by Petacchi's fellow Italian Mario Cipollini back in 1999.
"Everything went as planned even though I was tired today because I have not really had time to recover," Petacchi said on French television immediately after the race.
"I would like to thank my team-mate Nicola Loda who stayed with me while I was suffering."
Petacchi added: "Today in the hills I was struggling, but the team worked so hard to get me back. I was wondering if my legs would be up to it.
"But I get better as the stage goes on and my legs get stronger when I see the finishing line."
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