Paris,July 07: Giro sprint king Alessandro Petacchi humbled his rivals to win the 168-km first stage of the Tour de France in a mass sprint marred by a spectacular crash near the finish line on Sunday Winner of six stages in the Giro, Petacchi scored his inaugural Tour win at the expense of other top sprinters, Australian Robbie McEwen and German Erik Zabel. McEwen and Zabel were the last two winners of the Tour points classification and the Italian can be considered a favourite for the green jersey this season. But Petacchi's feat in three hours 44 minutes and 33 seconds was overshadowed by a dreadful pile-up in the bunch some 400 metres before the finish line. Spaniard Jose-Enrique Guttierez crashed for no apparent reason as the bunch was speeding to the finish, splitting the main group and causing dozens of riders to fall in turn. Prologue winner Bradley McGee of Australia was involved in the crash but retained his leader's yellow jersey. The FDJeux.com rider even increased his overall lead by finishing second in the first intermediate sprint of the stage after 19 km to grab a bonus of two seconds. He now leads Briton David Millar by four seconds.

Hot favourite Lance Armstrong finished the stage grazed, bruised and riding a replacement bike after he was involved in the crash.

The American, chasing a fifth consecutive title, was still fuming after finishing in a group behind Petacchi, holding eighth place overall.

Armstrong was not seriously hurt but suffered a bruised lower leg and grazed arm in the incident some 400 metres from the end which involved dozens of riders and was forced to switch bikes to complete the stage.

Seven riders were taken to hospital with more serious injuries including the talented American Tyler Hamilton, CSC team leader, who had a broken collar bone. He was expected to announce his withdrawal officially in a news conference later on Sunday in Paris.

Despite the crash Armstrong did not lose any time in the overall standings because the incident occurred in the final kilometre of the stage, meaning all the riders involved were given the same time as winner Alessandro Petacchi.
Other crash victims included American Levi Leipheimer and Italian Gilberto Simoni.
Bureau Report.