Tour de France: Bertogliati springs surprise attack to capture first stage

Swiss youngster surprises favourites with inspired late attack to secure only his second race win and claim yellow jersey

Lance Armstrong's victory in Saturday's prologue time trial might have surprised nobody, but the sight of a third-year Swiss professional by the name of Rubens Bertogliati crossing the line metres ahead of the péloton yesterday and taking both the stage and the overall lead could not have provided a greater upset.

The 23-year-old, perhaps inevitably nicknamed "Barrichello" because of his first name, delivered an inspired lightning attack on a nasty little rise through the streets of Luxembourg as the bunch roared underneath the flag indicating the final kilometre of the Tour's first road stage.

He somehow managed to maintain a few seconds of daylight between himself and the péloton as the road flattened out once more, and the Lampre rider's lone move was powerful enough to give him time to weave into the centre of the road for a more photogenic finish. The latter manoeuvre saw him all but swamped by the péloton but still victorious.

Bertogliati, who has one win to his name, and that in a small Swiss one-day race, said he had had no idea that he would be able to take the race leader's maillot jaune as well as the stage win, not to mention the white jersey for the best young rider, overhauling Britain's David Millar. "Just winning today would have been enough," he said.

The reason for his ability to leapfrog over the race favourites and into the limelight, however briefly, was due in part to his 19th place in the prologue, 17 seconds behind Armstrong. With a 20-second time bonus on offer to the stage winner, Bertogliati suddenly found himself leading cycling's blue riband event.

Seemingly stagestruck by his rise to fame, the Lampre man was incapable of trotting out more than a series of well-trodden clichés. "It's a dream come true, one that I've had since a child," he said. "I always believe that by giving as much as I can, I'll reap the maximum benefits."

While Bertogliati reflected on becoming the first Swiss rider to lead the Tour since 1996, the heavyweights of the race were left chewing over the consequences of an unusually aggressive stage through Luxembourg's rolling countryside.

Long-term, the biggest loser was the only Frenchman with any realistic chance of beating Armstrong, Christophe Moreau. Already suffering from a pre-Tour training crash, the 2001 prologue winner came off the worse for wear in two more accidents during stage one.

Patiently guided back to the peloton by his domestique Jens Voigt, Moreau struggled badly on a fourth category climb – the least difficult in the Tour's classification of ascents – with 10km to go. The Crédit Agricole leader was unable to handle the steadily increasing speed and eventually crossed the line 3 minutes 20 seconds back. With a heavily bruised right knee and several cuts and abrasions, his chances of repeating or bettering his fourth place overall in the 2000 Tour are now all but non-existent.

While one favourite taking an unlucky tumble in the tense first week is par for the course, seeing the overwhelming final favourite, Lance Armstrong, forming part of a break, however, briefly, had television commentators gabbling in surprise.

What appeared to be a sneak attack by Armstrong and eight other riders, including Millar and the Colombian favourite Santiago Botero, with 50km to go, in fact was sparked by nothing more spectacular than an in-stage traffic jam.

Race vehicles – rumoured to include that of the race director Jean Marie Leblanc – became clogged up on the short but lethally steep slopes of the Côte de Wormelange, effectively splitting the peloton. Armstrong, Millar and the other six, who were responding to an attack by Belgian dark horse Rik Verbrugghe, were caught on the right side and they took advantage to open up a gap of around 20 seconds as the remainder of the péloton threaded its way through the stranded motorcade.

Logically enough for such a flukey opportunity – although the fact that these eight were close enough to the front and strong enough to chase down Verbrugghe is encouraging for Millar – the move was soaked up by ONCE-Eroski after a chase alongside the River Mosel.

Some brief attacks spluttered out as the leading sprinters' teams smelled the prospect of victory, with Erik Zabel – seven times winner of the points competition and particularly keen to celebrate his 32nd birthday with a 12th Tour stage – placing his Telekom cohorts at the front. The Germans had not, however, bargained on "Barrichello" putting his foot down with a kilometre to go and for once getting the better of cycling's Michael Schumacher.

Robbie McEwen finished third but has a back problem. "It's not a bad result because yesterday I pinched a nerve in my back in the prologue," the Australian sprinter said. "The osteopath worked on me and I rode with a heat patch, but it was still hurting."

He added: "I'm going to concentrate on winning a stage in the next few days. Zabel has already gained some time today, so unless things change I won't contest the intermediate sprints but concentrate on winning.

* The Deutsche Telekom team manager Walter Godefroot has criticised his team leader Jan Ullrich for taking amphetamines. Ullrich, who pulled out of this year's Tour after knee surgery, failed a drugs test last month, and Godefroot said: "I cannot understand how Jan, who was in rehabilitation, can find himself in a disco at three in the morning. I cannot understand that to fight an understandable sadness he would be as foolish as to take pills. Two months ago, Jan [was caught] drink-driving after coming out of a disco and he had pledged this was a first and last time. The second time came too quickly. I have demanded that a report on Jan's behaviour be on my desk every week."