Britain’s Millar Keeps Tour Lead

Defending champion Lance Armstrong remained in second place in the Tour de France despite finishing well back in Sunday’s second stage.

Tom Steels of Belgium won the close stage, finishing the mostly flat 120-mile course from Futuroscope to Loudun in 4 hours 46 minutes 8 seconds.

Steels edged Australia’s Stuart O’Grady in a frantic sprint to the finish line, but Britain’s David Millar retained the yellow jersey as the overall leader and stretched his advantage over Armstrong to four seconds.

“It was close with O’Grady,” said Steels, a member of the Mapei team. “It’s very important to take a victory early on, especially with a team like ours, with lots of sprinters.”

O’Grady, of Credit Agricole, finished ahead of Erik Zabel of Deutsche Telekom.

Laurent Jalabert of France remained third in the 21-stage event, 15 seconds off the pace. Germany’s Jan Ullrich is 16 seconds back and Spain’s David Canada 18 seconds behind.

Armstrong, who took a nap after the race and did not speak to reporters, appeared content to stay back and get ready for Tuesday’s important team time trials.

Tyler Hamilton, Armstrong’s right-hand man on the U.S. Postal team, cut his elbow when he fell after 38 kilometers. He continued after receiving medical attention.

“My handlebars went into some guy’s rear wheel and I crashed,” he said. “I was a little shaken up. But it could have been worse.”

Hamilton said that the mood of the pack had been “nervy” in the first day of road racing.

Millar had the right to wear three jerseys--yellow for race leader, green for points leader and white for best young rider.

He chose yellow and gave the green to his nearest rival, Armstrong.

Steels, 28, won three stages in last year’s Tour and would have added a fourth if he had not been disqualified for bumping an opponent in a dash to the finishing line.

Sunday’s open road race came as a relief to the riders after Saturday’s tense battle against the clock at the Futuroscope theme park.

The second stage wound its way along narrow roads, slicing through fields of sunflowers and haystacks. Thousands of local residents and visitors lined the route even before midday.

Erik Dekker of the Netherlands and Frenchman Jacky Durand were the first to attack and led for more than 100 kilometers, before being reeled in by the pack as it braced for the final sprint.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Tour de France Glance

A look at Sunday’s second stage:

* STAGE: A 120-mile ride from the Futuroscope theme park to the town of Loudun in western France.

* STAGE WINNER: Belgium’s Tom Steels in 4 hours 46 minutes 8 seconds.

* HOW OTHERS FARED: There was little impact on the overall standings on a day for sprint specialists. Yellow jersey-holder David Millar of Britain extended his lead to four seconds over Lance Armstrong, who was 38th.

* QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I don’t like massive sprints very much. I don’t even like to watch them. Sprinters are crazy.” --Millar, who finished in the main pack of riders.

* NEXT STAGE: Monday’s flat third stage takes the riders 100 miles from Loudun northwest to Nantes in Brittany.

Stage Winners

Location and miles of the stage followed by winner and overall leader in parentheses.

* July 1--1st stage: Futuroscope, 10.3 individual time trial (David Millar, Scotland).

* July 2--2nd stage: Futuroscope to Loudun, 120.5 (Tom Steels, Belgium; Millar).

* Today--3rd stage: Loudun to Nantes, 100.3.