Petacchi takes spoils but McGee keeps lead

Italy‘s Alessandro Petacchi won the first stage of the centenary Tour de France on Sunday, prevailing in a sprint finish marred by a crash which affected most of the 198-strong peloton.

Petacchi, who won six stages on the Giro d‘Italia earlier this year, opened his account in Le Tour by winning a thrilling finish, holding off second-placed Australian Robbie McEwen and third-placed German sprinter Erik Zabel.

However, Petacchi‘s path to victory was smoothed by the pile-up which left one rider hospitalised and several others clearly shocked while wrecked bicycles lay strewn across the road.

Australian Bradley McGee, who had secured the yellow jersey by winning Saturday‘s prologue in Paris, successfully defended the overall leadership but had to be helped over the finishing line after being caught up in the melee.

It was a sweet victory on the day for Italy where the decision by race organisers not to invite the 1998 Tour de France winner Marco Pantani and veteran sprinter Mario Cipollini caused outrage.

Petacchi, a 29-year-old member of the powerful Fassa Bortolo outfit, said: “I didn‘t have much preparation so I have to thank my team-mates for their work today.”

Asked whether he might take 27-year-old McGee‘s yellow jersey, Petacchi told Eurosport: “I am not thinking of that at the moment, if it doesn‘t happen, it doesn‘t happen.

“I came here wanting to win a stage and anything else now is a bonus.

“I know it will be a different race when we reach the mountains.”

The crash happened as Spanish rider Jose Gutierrez fell as he rounded the penultimate corner in hot pursuit of the leaders and the majority of the riders were caught up in the confusion.

France‘s Jimmy Casper had a neck brace fitted on the spot and was taken away in an ambulance while other riders were helped to their feet and slowly made their way to the finishing line just a short distance away.

McGee has an overall lead of four seconds over Britain‘s David Millar who had looked poised to win Saturday‘s prologue before his chain became detached, costing him valuable seconds.

Jan Ullrich, Tour winner in 1997, lies fourth and six seconds off the pace while American Lance Armstrong, who came in 107th in the crash-affected stage, is eighth overall and 11 seconds behind McGee.

US Postal team rider Armstrong, bidding for a record-equalling fifth consecutive win, will be expected to make his move for the yellow jersey when the race gets to the mountains.

The 31-year-old Texan dismounted his bike and walked it through the wreckage before remounting and finishing the race.

There had been no sign of the drama to come when the riders gathered at the Stade de France for the start of the first stage proper after Saturday‘s time-trial curtain raiser.

The peloton cycled ceremonially to nearby Montgeron where they passed the Cafe Reveil-Matin where the inaugural Tour had started 100 years ago.

As the peloton passed the Cafe race director Jean-Marie Leblanc, in a car in front of the field, waved a flag to signal that the race that had been a procession was now underway in earnest even if it would not be as long as the marathon first stage that had taken the riders all the way to Lyon a century earlier.

This year‘s stage was a less onerous affair with a mere 168 kilometres (100 miles) for the peloton to negotiate on the way to Meaux including a detour past the Fontainebleau complex once used by the French royal family.

Three French riders – Walter Beneteau, Andy Flickinger and Christophe Mengin - made the first breakaway of the Tour and, at 78km, had a eight-minute, 38-second advantage over the peloton.

The trio were accompanied by the usual escort of officials, team directors and media workers including a car containing Leblanc and French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin in what promised to be a celebratory day for France.

However, the gap then started to fall as the peloton worked together to rein in the escapees and with less than 30km to go the distance had been reduced to less than two minutes.

Beneteau and Mengin were finally swallowed up just 17km from the finish, leaving Flickinger on his own for another 5km but Petacchi would eventually rain on what organisers had hoped would be a French parade.

Monday‘s second stage is a 204.5km ride from La-Ferte-Sous-Jouarre to Sedan near the Belgian border and takes the riders through some of the battlefields of the First World War in the 90th running of the race which has only ever been been halted by the two global conflicts.