Jean-Patrick Nazon brought an end to his nightmares about watching the Tour de France on television after becoming the first French rider since Francois Simon in 2001 to pull on the race's yellow jersey following Tuesday's 167.5km third stage from Charleville to Saint Dizier.

The 26-year-old, who was on the verge of falling into a depression while watching the 2002 renewal on television, replaced Australian Bradley McGee - who rides for the fdjeux.com team that let Nazon go last year - in the overall lead ahead of Wednesday's fourth stage team time trial.

McGee, whose team failed to counter Nazon's bid to collect the intermediate sprint points which effectively assured his taking the yellow jersey, now has an eight-second deficit, with David Millar third at 12secs.

The stage was won by 29-year-old Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, the Fassa Bortolo rider bagging his second victory in the race following his great campaign in the Giro where he claimed six victories.

In second place was Latvia's 2000 world road race champion Romans Vainsteins, with Spain's two-time world champion (1999/2001) Oscar Freire sneaking up past Germany's Erik Zabel to claim third place.

Nazon, who rides for the Jean Delatour team, was almost left high and dry last year after he left fdjeux.com and couldn't get a ride with a professional team.

And Nazon, the younger brother of professional rider Damien, repaid the faith placed in him by his new team - who won their Tour place thanks to a last-minute wildcard.

"I want to thank my team for giving me the chance to prove that I'm not finished," said an emotional Nazon.

"I went through a lot of pain this past year. I can tell you, it wasn't much fun watching the race on television last year. If you're a French rider and you can't take part in the Tour, it's depressing.

"When Jean Delatour took me on and gave me my chance they believed in me straight away. All sports people at one time or another go through tough periods of doubt - and that happened to me.

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