SAINT-DIZIER, France -- Lance Armstrong finished 69th in the third stage of the Tour de France, conserving his strength for an important time trial and the grueling mountainous climbs.

Breakdown -- Stage 3

Petacchi Winner Alessandro Petacchi, in 3 hours, 27 minutes, 39 seconds. How others fared Four-time champion Lance Armstrong finished in 69th place. 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich crossed was 18th. Tyler Hamilton, riding with a fractured collarbone, placed 43rd. Quote of the day "I'm not here just to finish the Tour. I've finished six Tours. I've been there and done it, so I know what it's like. I'm here to contribute and help the team.'' -- Tyler Hamilton Next stage Joinville to Saint-Dizier, a 43-mile time trial in which teams set off in 5-minute intervals. -- The Associated Press

Italy's Alessandro Petacchi won his second stage of the Tour on Tuesday, speeding to the line in a sprint marked by another crash.

Armstrong is taking it easy in the early stages as he attempts to equal Miguel Indurain's record of five consecutive victories in cycling's showcase race.

Armstrong is 12th overall, 19 seconds behind leader France's Jean-Patrick Nazon with 17 days of racing left.

"They're still nervous, there are still crashes, still lucky not be involved, which means the team did a great job in protecting Lance,'' said Jogi Muller, a spokesman for Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service team.

Three of Armstrong's teammates, whose job includes shielding the Texan from the bumps and accidents in the main pack, finished grouped around him.

Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour winner and a threat this year, is sixth overall, five seconds ahead of Armstrong.

Tyler Hamilton, who broke his collarbone Sunday in a crash involving about 35 riders, finished 43rd. Before the injury, he had been considered another of Armstrong's potential rivals. He is 10th overall.

"I'm feeling about 80-85 percent,'' Hamilton said after Tuesday's stage. "There is just this kind of dull numbing pain which nags away at me.''

Petacchi, winner of Sunday's first stage, beat Latvia's Romans Vainsteins and Spain's Oscar Freire in the dash into Saint-Dizier, the third of the three-week Tour's 20 stages. Germany's Erik Zabel was fourth and Australia's Robbie McEwen was fifth.

"I had a great sprint,'' said Petacchi, of the Italian Fassa Bortolo team. "I'm starting to get into form.''

Nazon finished in 14th place and took the yellow jersey by picking up time bonuses in sprint stages along the 104-mile route. He is the first Frenchman to hold the overall lead since Francois Simon in 2001.

"People will remember that I'm the first French rider in a yellow jersey at this centennial,'' said Nazon, of the French Jean Delatour team. "It has happened so quickly. I'm having a lot of difficulty understanding what's happening.''

On a hot, sunny day, Petacchi completed the race in 3 hours 27 minutes, 39 seconds.

The stage was marked by a crash involving Rene Haselbacher of Austria. Doctors treated him by the side of the road and he finished 193rd of the 196 riders.

Armstrong aims to start winnowing out challengers in the team time trial Wednesday in which squads race against the clock over a 43-mile course from Joinville back to Saint-Dizier.

Each rider gets the time of the whole team, meaning a cyclist can lose valuable minutes with a weak squad.

Armstrong's team races last because it leads the overall standings among the Tour's 22 teams. That will allow the riders to see how Armstrong's key rivals have done.

"It's a big advantage,'' Armstrong said.

Wednesday "is really the first decisive move of the race,'' said Dan Osipow, the team's general manager. "With a bad team time trial, you can lose a handful of minutes, and where do you find those minutes again when the Alps come?''