Cycling: Cipollini wins it fair and square

TOUR DE FRANCE: Zulle keeps leader's yellow jersey despite Boardman remounting after fall to aid Moncassin's challenge

Frederic Moncassin's quest for the yellow jersey came within a second of success yesterday after Chris Boardman and the rest of the Frenchman's team found themselves in the front line of the Tour de France.

It was nervous stuff as rain hit the race and Boardman fell, but he was quick to remount as the race threaded through residential areas, country lanes and along broad highways.

Having their first ace, Boardman, trumped by Switzerland's Alex Zulle in Saturday's prologue time trial, the GAN team produced the super-fast Moncassin, but twice yesterday on the road from 's Hertogenbosch, in the Netherlands, he was foiled by other ambitious sprinters.

The Czech Jan Svorada snatched second place in an intermediate sprint in which Moncassin could have ousted Zulle as tour leader. Then his final drive for victory at the French town of Wasquehal died in the last 100 metres and Mario Cipollini swept by with Jeroen Blijlevens and Svorada to win the 121-mile stage and clean up 40 seconds in deductions. Just two of those would have served Moncassin's purpose, but he was fourth.

Cipollini, relegated from third on Sunday for balking Moncassin, restored some respect with his victory and also apologised to the Frenchman.

"I am sorry if I did block him, but I have to admit I was not watching the other riders. He did well to recover and deserved the win," the Italian said.

Moncassin's fightback for that win brought him within nine seconds of Zulle, a deficit which he cut to three seconds yesterday when he won an intermediate sprint to earn a deduction of six seconds from his total race time. Then Boardman and the GAN squad had to chase hard to haul back a move that made the World Cup winner, Johan Museeuw, the Tour "leader on the road" through his native Belgium, giving the soaked thousands something to warm their chilled souls.

Museeuw, the Dutchman Leon Van Bon and Italy's Dario Bottaro built a lead of more than six minutes with Zulle's lieutenant, Neil Stephens of Australia, doing his best to guard his team leader's interests.

They stayed ahead for over 40 miles, but with the combined efforts of Boardman's men and other interested parties, a Belgian dream returned to being a little nightmarish for Zulle, whose team had to chase down a late threat from Italian Rossano Brasin.

"I know that in the next stage I will lose the yellow jersey, but it is better not to spend too much energy defending when there are greater goals further down the Tour route," Zulle said.

After finishing second to Spain's Miguel Indurain in Paris last year, Zulle arrived for this Tour in top form and even more confident of challenging Indurain's mission for a record sixth victory.

But Moncassin could be wearing the leader's colours at Nogent-sur-Oise after today's 121 miles, which will give Boardman and company plenty to do until the weekend when the mountains loom and the sprinters fade.

Boardman still holds eighth overall, 17 seconds behind Zulle, and the other Briton, Max Sciandri, is one minute and seven seconds adrift after they finished yesterday in the same time as Cipollini and the bulk of the 192 riders.

The casualty list from Sunday's crashes mounted overnight as Germany's Mario Kummer quit with a broken collar-bone and three other fallers failed to reach the finish.

TOUR DE FRANCE Stage Two ('s Hertogenbosch to Wasquehal, 153miles): 1 M Cipollini (It) SAECO 6hr 29min 22sec; 2 J Blijlevens (Neth) TVM; 3 J Svorada (Cz Rep) Panaria; 4 F Moncassin (Fr) GAN; 5 C Capelle (Fr) Aubervilliers; 6 E Zabel (Ger) Deutsche Telekom; 7 M Traversoni (It) Carrera; 8 A Ferrigato (It) Roslotto; 9 C Camin (It) Brescialat; 10 K Ozers (Lat) Motorola; 11 N Minali (It) Gewiss; 12 A Piziks (Lith) Rabobank; 13 S Biasci (It) SAECO; 14 F Baldato (It) MG Technogym; 15 R Sorensen (Den) Rabobank; 16 A Tchmil (Ukr) Lotto; 17 L Brochard (Fr) Festina; 18 B Hamburger (Den) TVM; 19 T Rominger (Swit) Mapei; 20 M Fondriest (It) Roslotto, all same time. Selected: 44 M

Sciandri (GB) Motorola; 48 C Boardman (GB) GAN, same time as winner Overall standings: 1 A Zulle (Swit) ONCE 5hr 10min 54sec; 2 F Moncassin (Fr) GAN at 1sec; 3 Y Berzin (Rus) Gewiss, 3; 4 A Olano (Sp) Mapei, 7; 5 B Riis (Den) Deutsche Telekom, 11; 6 M Indurain (Sp) Banesto, 12; 7 L Jalabert (Fr) ONCE, 15; 8 C Boardman (GB) GAN, 17; 9 Rominger, 19; 10 M Mauri (Sp) ONCE, 21; 11 E Dekker (Neth) Rabobank 26; 12 Svorad, 27; 13 M Gualdi (It) Polti, st; 14 P Savoldelli (It) Roslotto 29; 15 J Skibby (Den) TVM 30; 16 Blijlevens, st; 17 Tchmil, 31; 18 J Ullrich (Ger) Deutsche Telekom 33; 19 S Heulot (Fr) GAN 36; 20 Cipollini, st. Selected: 80 Sciandri, 1:07