Australian Robbie McEwen has come within a whisker of a spectacular Tour de France double, finishing third in the tough 210 km third stage over some of cycling's fabled cobblestones to grab the yellow jersey.

McEwen, who started the stage in third place overall at 17 seconds behind overnight leader Thor Hushovd of Norway, sprinted away on his own in the final 250 metres looking for a second consecutive victory following his convincing win on Monday.

However the 32-year-old from Brisbane went too early, allowing Frenchman Jean-Patrick Nazon, of the AG2R team, time to catch up and throw his front wheel across the finish line ahead of T-Mobile's Erik Zabel.

Lotto rider McEwen finished third, with his bonus seconds from a third place finish on the first of the day's three intermediate sprints allowing him to pull on his second jersey in as many days after claiming the points classification's green jersey 24 hours earlier.

Yellow jersey contender Jan Ullrich, of the T-Mobile team, rode in five seconds later with five-time winner Lance Armstrong just behind.

McEwen has conceded that he was likely to lose the jersey after the team trial on Wednesday. He now has a one-second lead over prologue winner Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, with Jens Voigt of Germany in third place following his daring early breakaway with Dutchman Bram De Groot.

Nazon is fourth overall at 12secs, Armstrong fifth overall at 16 and Ullrich is in 18th place at 31.

However it could all have been a lot worse on what was a tough day's racing over some of the feared cobblestones of the French and Belgian classics races.

Spaniard Iban Mayo of the Euskaltel team, was the main casualty.

After starting as one of the favourites following a great ride in the Dauphine Libere race, his bid for the yellow jersey may have to be reviewed as he is now 4:23 behind McEwen.

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