Tour de France: The world champion Mario Cipollini, who was controversially refused a place in this Tour, is currently perfecting his tan in Sharm el Sheikh courtesy of the holiday company that sponsors him. It is to be hoped he had the television switched off yesterday afternoon or he would have choked on his pina colada.

For the second time in three days, the bunch sprint was taken perfectly by Alessandro Petacchi, the young Italian sprinter who made Cipollini's life so difficult at this year's Tour of Italy, and who now looks set to succeed him as king of the blanket finish. To rub salt in Cipollini's wounds, the yellow jersey went to another sprinter, the little-known Jean-Patrick Nazon of the obscure French team Jean Delatour, who were invited to the Tour in preference to Cipollini's Domina Vacanze.

Nazon, who was on the point of quitting last year because he could not find a sponsor, snatched the maillot jaune from Bradley McGee thanks to the bonus seconds deducted from the top-three finishers' times at the stage finishes and intermediate sprints. On Monday, he gleaned 12 seconds for second on the stage; yesterday he managed two second places and a third on the "hot spots", and this morning he leads McGee by eight seconds and David Millar by 12.

His tenure is likely to be limited to today's team time trial as Delatour lack the firepower of Lance Armstrong's US Postal Service or Joseba Beloki's Once, but a single day in yellow - and as the first French rider to wear the maillot jaune in the Tour du Centenaire - is enough to justify the presence of the squad backed by a Lyon jeweller.

"I'd like to thank the organisers for inviting us. This proves that we deserve our place here," said the team manager Jean-Luc Jeanrond.

There was also a message for Armstrong, who accused the squad of being "amateurs" after a dispute with their team leader Patrice Halgand. "Today will change his mind for him," said Nazon. "It's real proof our team are not amateurs and are doing the same job as his even if we are not as strong."

Yesterday, if anything, was the most nerve-racking stage of the Tour so far. The attacking was constant from the moment the flag dropped in the outskirts of Charleville Mezieres, and the 105 miles were covered in less than three hours, an average of more than 30 m.p.h.

There were constant minor crashes as the peloton jockeyed for position and, inevitably, there was a spectacular chute in the sprint, where the Austrian Rene Haselbacher lost his balance and leaned on Robbie McEwen, who leaned on Baden Cooke.

Cooke, incredibly, stayed upright, but leaned back, and Haselbacher was catapulted into the barriers, cutting his elbow to the bone, skinning his fingers - the most painful injury of all, the riders say - and ripping his shorts to tatters.

After losing two riders in the mass crash at the end of stage one, Rabobank's only aim for today's team time trial is to survive.

Team leader Levi Leipheimer, of the United States, fractured his tail bone in Sunday's crash while Dutchman Marc Lotz broke his nose. The injuries forced both riders out of the race.

The team's run of poor luck continued when Michael Boogerd crashed during yesterday's stage, hurting his elbow. The 31-year-old Dutch rider finished the stage but is unlikely to be of much help on today's rolling course which has to be covered at more than 35 m.p.h.

"After the crash on the first stage, our objectives in the Tour have completely changed," team director Theo De Rooy said yesterday.

Today, the team time trial offers a physical and mental ordeal of a different nature. The teams are racing against the watch, with the time taken on the first five riders, and this is the first point in the race when a hierarchy begins to emerge among the favourites.

The Tour can be lost and won in this trial of cohesion, and the clear favourites are Armstrong's US Postal Service, who placed four men in the first 13 of the prologue on Saturday. The big question mark hangs over Jan Ullrich's hastily thrown-together Team Bianchi, formed less than two months ago, who were still hiring riders days before the Tour started.

It will also be a vicious day for the Tour's pedalling sick and wounded. A peloton of 200 sucks the riders along but a group of nine offers far less shelter. The teams will still average about 30 m.p.h, and cannot afford to slow down if any member is badly below par.

It is also a key test for Millar: a repetition of the mechanical trouble that lost him the prologue time trial would turn his Cofidis team into a laughing stock. "We are using conventional chain rings," he said. "There will be no problem. I'll make a good little team out of them yet." Today would not be a bad place to start.

STAGE THREE

(167.5 km, Charleville-Mezieres to Saint-Dizier)

Leading placings: 1. A Petacchi (Italy) F Bortolo 3 hours 27 minutes 39 seconds 2. R Vainsteins (Latvia) Vini Caldirola 3. O Freire (Spain) Rabobank 4. E Zabel (Germany) Team Telekom 5. R McEwen (Australia) Lotto 6. L Paolini (Italy) Quick Step 7. O Pollack (Germany) Gerolsteiner 8. A Furlan (Italy) Alessio 9. S Commesso (Italy) Saeco 10. S O'Grady (Australia) Credit Agricole all same time.

OVERALL (yellow jersey): Leading standings: 1. JP Nazon (France) Jean Delatour 12 hours 25 minutes 59 seconds 2. B McGee (Australia) FDJeux.com 8 seconds behind 3. D Millar (Britain) Cofidis 12 4. B Cooke (Australia) FDJeux.com same time 5. H Zubeldia (Spain) Euskaltel 14 6. J Ullrich (Germany) Team Bianchi same time 7. J Kirsipuu (Estonia) AG2R 15 8. R McEwen (Australia) Lotto 18 9. V Hugo Pena (Colombia) US Postal Service 10. T Hamilton (U.S.) Team CSC all same time.

KING OF THE MOUNTAINS (polka-dot jersey): Standings: 1. C Mengin (France) FDJeux.com 15 points 2. W Beneteau (France) Brioches 10 3. F Finot (France) Jean Delatour 8 4. L Jegou (France) Credit Agricole 8 5. A Flickinger (France) AG2R 5

POINTS (green jersey): Standings: 1. R McEwen (Australia) Lotto 86 points 2. E Zabel (Germany) Team Telekom 74 3. A Petacchi (Italy) Fassa Bortolo 72 4. J Nazon (France) Jean Delatour 72 5. Baden Cooke (Australia) FDJeux.com 62 6. O Freire (Spain) Rabobank 60

TEAM: Standings: 1. US Postal Service 37:18:57 2. Team Bianchi 8 seconds behind 3. FDJeux.com 17 4. Euskaltel 18 5. AG2R 19

UNDER-25 YOUNG RIDER (white jersey): Standings: 1. B Cooke (Australia) FDJeux.com 12:26:11 2. A Flickinger (France) AG2R 6 seconds behind 3. V Karpets (Russia) Ibanesto.com 12 4. M Astarloza (Spain) AG2R same time 5. T Hushovd (Norway) Credit Agricole 13.