Perfect timing as sprint king Petacchi claims third stage win

ITALY’S Alessandro Petacchi confirmed his reputation as the new sprint king of the Tour de France as he recorded his third stage win in five days in the centenary running of the most famous cycling race in the world.

The Fassa Bortolo rider produced another perfectly-timed dash to edge Estonian veteran Jaan Kirsipuu and Australian Baden Cooke to honours on the day after an exciting 196.5km run from Troyes.

However, Colombian Victor Hugo Pena, a member of Lance Armstrong's powerful US Postal outfit, retained the leader's yellow jersey he had taken 24 hours earlier by virtue of the awesome performance by "the postmen" in Wednesday's team time-trial.