MEAUX, France, 7 July 2003 — Italy’s Alessandro Petacchi confirmed his blistering Tour of Italy form to claim his maiden Tour de France victory after a dramatic first stage from the outskirts of Paris to here yesterday.
Fresh from winning six stages on the Giro, Petacchi held off sprint stars Aussie Robbie McEwen and Germany’s Erik Zabel after a mass crash just prior to the finish of the short 168km ride.
Australia’s Bradley McGee of fdjeux.com retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey despite a late scare when he got caught up in the melee. Four-time winner Lance Armstrong came in moments later and sits in eighth place overall at 11secs behind McGee.
After the race Petacchi was finding it hard to be happy and had harsh words for the organizers’ choice of a tight finish with so many bends in the road.
“I didn’t see the crash because it happened behind me and all the riders who were racing ahead to fight the sprint,” said the glum-looking Italian, whose concern for fallen teammate Nicola Loda was visibly showing.
He added: “I don’t think it’s right that on the first day of the race there should be a finish with so many bends before the finish. They (the authorities) wanted us to wear helmets — then they decide to organize the stage like that.”
The first spectacular crash of the three-week centenary race occurred when one rider came down, and a number went over their handlebars, including hospital-bound Frenchman Jimmy Casper (fdjeux.com).
But Petacchi’s taming of two off the biggest names from the often dangerous world of sprinting — reigning green jersey champion McEwen and six-time points winner Erik Zabel — was a sign of possible things to come.
Lotto rider McEwen, who deprived Zabel of a seventh points title last year, came second behind the Italian to take the green jersey thanks to the bonus points he picked up winning the first of the day’s intermediate sprints.
After the stage had been brought to life after a breakaway by French trio Christophe Mengin (fdjeux.com), Walter Beneteau (La Boulangere) and Andy Flickinger (AG2R) the peloton finally caught them 10km before the finish line.
On the ride in to the city, around 100km north-east of the capital, the peloton was getting frisky on the tight and windy roads as they jostled for position, but the momentum was soon broken.
The crash brought a temporary halt to proceedings although at the front around 20 riders escaped to race toward the line.
McGee was one of the lucky ones, escaping with only scatches after his fall, and will spend the second night in the yellow jersey.
“I’m fine, nothing’s broken,” said the 27-year-old Australian, who fell on his knee but feared he’d damaged his shoulder.
Unfortunately, American Tyler Hamilton (CSC) — a pre-race favorite to challenge Armstrong, his former teammate at US Postal — looks unlikely to saddle up for the second stage due to a fractured collarbone.
The 32-year-old CSC team leader was taken to hospital with a handful of riders who fell in the crash and his team appear doubtful.
