Belgian Sprints To Tour De France Stage Win

Tom Steels Takes The Pack Sprint On The Mostly Flat Stage 2; Armstrong Finishes Comfortably In 38th

Pat Malach, Staff Writer
steels wins 2Defending champion Lance Armstrong remained in second place in the Tour de France, finishing safely in the pack during Sunday's first road stage.

Tom Steels of Belgium won the stage, which finished in a tightly contested bunch sprint. Steels covered the mostly flat 120-mile course from Futuroscope to Loudun in 4 hours, 46 minutes, 8 seconds.

Steels edged Australia's Stuart O'Grady in a frantic sprint to the finish line, but Britain's David Millar retained the yellow jersey as the overall leader.

"It was close with O'Grady," said Steels, a member of the Mapei team. "It's very important to take a victory early on, especially with a team like ours, with lots of sprinters."

O'Grady, of Credit Agricole, just beat Erik Zabel of Deutsche Telekom.

Laurent Jalabert of France remained third in the 21-stage event, 15 seconds off the pace. Germany's Jan Ullrich is 16 seconds back and Spain's David Canada 18 seconds behind.

Armstrong, who took a nap after the race and did not speak to reporters, appeared content to stay back and get ready for Tuesday's important team time trial.

Tyler Hamilton, Armstrong's right-hand man on the U.S. Postal team, cut his elbow when he fell after 38 kilometers. He continued after receiving medical attention.

"My handlebars went into some guy's rear wheel and I crashed," he said. "I was a little shaken up. But it could have been worse."

Hamilton said that the mood of the pack had been "nervy" in the first day of road racing.

Millar had the right to wear three jerseys -- yellow for race leader, green for points leader, and white for best young rider.

lance_stage 2Millar chose yellow and gave the green to Armstrong, his nearest rival in the overall standings.

The 28-year-old Steels won three stages on last year's Tour and would have had a fourth but was disqualified for bumping an opponent in a dash to the finishing line.

Sunday's open road race came as a relief to the riders after Saturday's tense battle against the clock at the Futuroscope theme park.

The second stage wound its way along narrow roads, slicing through fields of sunflowers and haystacks. Thousands of local residents and visitors lined the route even before midday.

Erik Dekker of the Netherlands and Frenchman Jacky Durand were the first to attack and led for more than 100 kilometers, before being reeled in by the pack as it braced for the final sprint.

Stage 2 Results:

    1. Tom Steels, Belgium, Mapei, 4 hours, 46 minutes, 8 seconds.
    2. Stuart O'Grady, Australia, Credit Agricole, same time.
    3. Erik Zabel, Germany, Telekom, same time.
    4. Romans Vainsteins, Latvia, Vini Caldirola, same time.
    5. Marcel Wust, Germany, Festina, same time.
    6. Dario Pieri, Italy, Saeco, same time.
    7. Robbie McEwen, Australia, Farm Frites, same time.
    8. Zoran Klemencic, Slovenia, Vini Caldirola, same time.
    9. Francois Simon, France, Bonjour, same time.
    10. Jans Koerts, Netherlands, Farm Frites, same time.
    11. Markus Zberg, Switzerland, Rabobank, same time.
    12. Christophe Mengin, France, La Francaise des Jeux, same time.
    13. Jaan Kirsipuu, Estonia, AG2, same time.
    14. Fabiano Fontanelli, Italy, Mercatone Uno, same time.
    15. Tristan Hoffman, Netherlands, Memorycard. same time.

    Also

    38. Lance Armstrong, United States, U.S. Postal Service, same time.
    39. George Hincapie, United States. U.S. Postal Service, same time.
    46. Bobby Julich, United States, Credit Agricole, same time.
    62. Tyler Hamilton, United Stats, U.S. Postal Service, same time.
    63. Cedric Vasseur, France, U.S. Postal Service, same time.
    68. Chann McRae, United States, Mapei, same time.
    76. Vjatcheslav Ekimov, Russia, U.S. Postal Service, same time.
    104. Benoit Joachim, Luxembourg, U.S. Postal Service, same time.
    107. Fred Rodriguez, United States, Mapei, same time.
    117. Kevin Livingston, United States, U.S. Postal Service, same time.
    120. Jonathan Vaughters, United States, Credit Agricole, same time.
    153. Frankie Andreu, United States, U.S. Postal Service, same time.
    170. Steffen Kjaergaard, Norway, U.S. Postal Service, same time.

Overall Standings
(After two stages)

    1. David Millar, Britain, Cofidis, 5 hours, 5 minutes, 9 seconds.
    2. Armstrong, 4 seconds behind.
    3. Laurent Jalabert, France, Once, :15 behind.
    4. Jan Ullrich, Germany, Telekom, :16.
    5. David Canada, Spain, Once, :18.
    6. Alex Zulle, Switzerland, Banesto, :22.
    7. Ekimov, Russia, :23.
    8. Simone Borgheresi, Italy, Mercatone, :29.
    9. Hamilton, :35.
    10. Abraham Olano, Spain, Once, :41.

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