2010 Tour De France: Can Petacchi Take the Lead?

The annual Tour de France has kicked off, with cyclists racing to finish in the lead. While Americans are sure to be rooting for their hero and seven-time champion Lance Armstrong, the second stage of this year's Tour was led by Sylvain Chavanel of France. Chavanel now leads the winner of the first stage of the competition, Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, by two minutes, 57 seconds. During the last leg of the stage, many of the leading riders crashed, including Lance Armstrong, who suffered minor injuries to his hip and elbow. As the third stage of the Tour begins, many riders will be pushing to gain that first-place spot.

One rider to watch this year will certainly be Italy's Alessandro Petacchi. In second place overall, with 35 points to his name, Petacchi has managed to stay very close in points to the number one spot, currently held by Chavanel. Although Petacchi's performance thus far in the Tour de France has placed him under Chavenel's 44 points currently, the next stage of the Tour could see Petacchi taking the lead. While it is widely recognized that the determining factor for the winner of the Tour de France will not be seen until the third week's difficult Tourmalet climb, experts are declaring that the tournament could easily be lost during this third stage of the Tour.

This year's third stage will contain over eight miles of cobblestone divided into four different cobblestone sections. Because of the irregularity of cobblestone and the relative inexperience of many riders on the cobbles, this third stage of the Tour is predicted to be plagued with many crashes, which could greatly deter (or assist) the leading bicyclists of this race.

However, this is certainly not the first section filled with crashes this year, as many cyclists even crashed during the first stage of the Tour. Alessandro Petacchi's ability to be among the leading cyclists in the first stage, and to retain his spot as number two (point-wise) after the second stage of the tour, despite crashes from most of his contenders (including Bradley Wiggins, Lance Armstrong, Adam Hansen, and David Millar), could point to his potential success on the cobblestones, despite their increased danger of crashing.

If Petacchi manages to continue his strong cycling style on the cobblestones, he could very well win this third stage of the race. However, he will definitely need to step up his peddling pace if he is to gain the ground time- wise that he lost during the second stage of the race. While his points place him at number two, his combined racing times at the moment place him well outside of the top 10 competitors.

Results Stated as reported by:

http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/LIVE/us/200/classement/index.html

http://www.roadcycling.com/articles/2010