TOUR DE FRANCE : Indurain Wins First Stage; Several Riders Fall at Finish

Two-time defending champion Miguel Indurain of Spain retained the leader’s yellow jersey Sunday in the Tour de France, avoiding trouble as several sprinters fell at the end of the first full stage.

Mario Cipollini of Italy won Sunday’s 134-mile stage in 4 hours 52 minutes 29 seconds, finishing just ahead of the main pack. Belgian Wilfried Nelissen was second and Frenchman Laurent Jalabert third.

A few riders tumbled approaching the finish line, including Italian Giuseppe Citterio, Frenchman Thierry Marie and Uzbekistan’s Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, who had a memorable fall on the Champs Elysees in 1991.

“I didn’t see the fall, but I know the man who is in all the falls was there,” Cipollini said, referring to Abdoujaparov.

Indurain, who won the prologue Saturday, stayed out of trouble and held the overall lead.

A group of six riders who broke away early were overtaken easily by the pack about 20 miles before the finish. The leg went from Lucon to Les Sables d’Olonne, ending on a road 50 yards from the Atlantic Ocean.

On a hot, bright clear day in western France, Indurain added four seconds of a sprint bonus to his overall lead, giving him a 12-second margin over Alex Zulle of Switzerland, who finished second behind Indurain in Saturday’s prologue.

Jalabert moved past Italy’s Gianni Bugno into third overall, 13 seconds back.

Rookie Lance Armstrong of the United States finished 20th Sunday in a group four seconds behind Cipollini, but was 82nd overall--51 seconds behind Indurain.

Armstrong, 21, is the youngest rider in the 180-man field.

Andy Hampsten of Boulder, Colo., was 56th in Sunday’s first stage and is 38th overall, 40 seconds behind Indurain.

Today’s second leg is 141 miles from Les Sables d’Olonne to Vannes.

The Tour continues through July 25, on a 2,312-mile clockwise journey around France.