Nevers, July 11: Lance Armstrong enjoyed the relative anonymity of runner-up in the suffocating heat of the 196.5-km fifth stage of the Tour de France, won by sprint maestro Alessandro Petacchi on Thursday. Second overall behind team mate Victor Hugo Pena, the American, looking for a record-equalling fifth win on July 27, let the first Colombian leader of the Tour take the spotlight and the headlines. "It's never easy. Stages like today's are long, hot, hilly and sometimes windy. It's never easy," the Texan said before the start in Troyes. Easy it was not, especially for the riders who tried to break away on the Burgundy roads, who were outrun at the finish by the new Italian sprint sensation. Winner of Sunday's first stage in Meaux and Tuesday's third in St Dizier, Petacchi surged ahead of the bunch in the last hundred metres to leave his rivals in his wake.


Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu was second and Australian Baden Coke, winner of the second stage, was third.


Armstrong, whose U.S. Postal team crushed the opposition in Wednesday's 69-km team time trial, stayed quietly out of trouble under the escort of his team mates and finished within the main bunch, with the same time as Petacchi.


In the morning, around the U.S. Postal team bus, the same atmosphere of excitement prevailed as when Armstrong was leading the Tour in the last four years. But this time, the centre of attention was not the team leader, but Pena.


After Wednesday's team effort, the Bogota rider became the first Colombian cyclist to hold the coveted yellow jersey and a big cake had been prepared to celebrate both the feat and his 29th birthday.


"We had been looking for this team time trial win for four years and failed. I can tell you we had a good time last night," said Armstrong's closest aide George Hincapie.


Surrounded by American fans and autograph seekers, Armstrong made it clear that his team would not fight to keep Pena's yellow jersey, the aim being to take it in Paris on the final day, rather than in Nevers.

"We'll adapt to the circumstances. But if there's a breakaway, we will not move," Armstrong warned before the start. The U.S. Postal team did not.


Frenchmen Nicolas Jalabert, Ludovic Turpin and Frederic Finot, Hungary's Laszlo Bodrogi and German Jens Voigt parted company with the main group early on. Then Nevers rider Jerome Pineau staged a breakaway 10 kilometres from the end before being overtaken by the chasing pack.


They were caught by the leading sprinters in the bunch, however, who did not want to miss one their last chances to fight for glory before the mountains.


They will have another opportunity in Friday's 230-km sixth stage to Lyon and Petacchi will once again be the man to beat.


Leading placings in Thursday's fifth stage of the Tour de France, 196-km from Troyes to Nevers: 1. Alessandro Petacchi (Italy) Fassa Bortolo 4 hours 9 minutes 47 seconds 2. Jaan Kirsipuu (Estonia) AG2R 3. Baden Cooke (Australia) FDJeux.com 4. Erik Zabel (Germany) Team Telekom 5. Robbie McEwen (Australia) Lotto 6. Luca Paolini (Italy) Quick Step 7. Thor Hushovd (Norway) Credit Agricole 8. Stuart O'Grady (Australia) Credit Agricole 9. Fred Rodriguez (U.S.) Vini Caldirola 10. Jean-Patrick Nazon (France) Jean Delatour 11. Olaf Pollack (Germany) Gerolsteiner 12. Oscar Freire (Spain) Rabobank 13. Damien Nazon (France) Brioches 14. Romans Vainsteins (Latvia) Vini Caldirola 15. Sebastien Hinault (France) Credit Agricole 16. Bradley McGee (Australia) FDJeux.com 17. Fabrizio Guidi (Italy) Team Bianci 18. Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukraine) Jean Delatour 19. Alexandre Botcharov (Russia) AG2R 20. Gerrit Glomser (Austria) Saeco 21. Angelo Furlan (Italy) Alessio 22. Laurent Brochard (France) AG2R 23. Anthony Geslin (France) Brioches 24. Philippe Gaumont (France) Cofidis 25. Michael Rogers (Australia) Quick Step 26. Walter Beneteau (France) Brioches 27. Aitor Gonzalez (Spain) Fassa Bortolo 28. Rolf Aldag (Germany) Team Telekom 29. Daniel Becke (Germany) Team Bianchi 30. Andy Flickinger (France) AG2R all same time


Leading overall (yellow jersey) standings: 1. Victor Hugo Pena (Colombia) U.S. Postal Service 17 hours 54 minutes 31 seconds 2. Lance Armstrong (U.S.) U.S. Postal Service 1 second behind 3. Viatcheslav Ekimov (Russia) U.S. Postal Service 5 4. George Hincapie (U.S.) U.S. Postal Service same time 5. Jose Luis Rubiera (Spain) U.S. Postal Service 23 6. Roberto Heras (Spain) U.S. Postal Service 27 7. Pavel Padrnos (Czech Republic) U.S. Postal Service same time 8. Floyd Landis (U.S.) U.S. Postal Service 28 9. Joseba Beloki (Spain) ONCE 33 10. Joerg Jaksche (Germany) ONCE 38 11. Manuel Beltran (Spain) U.S. Postal Service 39 12. Jan Ullrich (Germany) Team Bianchi same time 13. Isidro Nozal (Spain) ONCE 44 14. Tobias Steinhauser (Germany) Team Bianchi 51 15. Mikel Pradera (Spain) ONCE 58 16. Angel Casero (Spain) Team Bianchi same time 17. Jose Azevedo (Portugal) ONCE 1:01 18. Marcos Serrano (Spain) ONCE 1:04 19. Vladimir Karpets (Russia) iBanesto.com 1:11 20. Laszlo Bodrogi (Hungary) Quick Step 1:12


Bureau Report