McEwen takes stage but Zabel leads

ERIK ZABEL bounced back from the disappointment of Monday's defeat on home soil to claim the Tour de France yellow jersey today.

The German, pipped by Oscar Freire in Saarbrucken, was out-muscled by Australian champion Robbie McEwen in Reims but gladly settled for a place at the top of the general classification. Another Aussie Baden Cooke, of Francaise des Jeux, took third.

It was a personal triumph for McEwen, matching his beating of Italian sprint-king Mario Cippolini in the Giro d'Italia. The Lotto rider, a serious points contender also led by Zabel is up to second overall.

He would have gone top if Zabel had not picked up precious bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints to overhaul Rubens Bertogliati, who started the day in yellow but is now back in third. Defending champion Lance Armstrong again had a quiet day but remains well placed in fifth.

The stage turned into a protracted chase of breakaway duo Jacy Durand of La Francaise des Jeux and Franck Renier of Bonjour who led for over 160km of the 174.5km stage. Durand, renowned for reckless attacks, lived up to his reputation by breaking alongside Franck Renier after just six kilometres.

The route took the riders across some of the worst killing fields in World War I but, with tomorrow's team time-trial on the horizon, there was more than an air of phoney war about today's riding.

No-one in the peloton appeared willing to chase them down until the duo's lead sailed over the 11 minute mark as light rain started to fall. While Renier and Durand shared the top two placings in the intermediate sprints, Zabel used the lethargy of the peloton to pick up bonus seconds.

The time collected at Saint-Menehould and Suippes moved the German ahead of Bertogliadi in the general classification and cemented his lead in the sprints competition.

Stuart O'Grady, one of his rivals for the green jersey, had a troubled ride as Credit Agricole continue to suffer through the first days of the Tour.

After Christophe Moreau's falls on Sunday and Thor Hushovd's cramps on Monday, the Australian who suffers a high heart-rate dropped off the back of the peloton for medical attention and laboured for long stretches.

Christophe Mengin, who lost the polka-dot jersey to Stephane Berges of AG2R yesterday, regained the lead in the King of the Mountains competition. The Francaise des Jeux rider was first over the Cote de Gravelotte to pick up the points needed to overhaul his countryman.