Chavanel takes double revenge on Cancellara

Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel took revenge on overnight race leader Fabian Cancellara yesterday by winning his second stage on the Tour de France to reclaim the yellow jersey.

None of the yellow jersey contenders lost time on what was the first day in the mountains and Quick Step all-rounder Chavanel now holds a 1min 25sec lead on Australian Cadel Evans.

Evans' fellow yellow jersey challenger Andy Schleck is fourth at 1:55, with reigning champion Alberto Contador sixth at 2:26 and seven-time champion Lance Armstrong 14th at 3:16.

Quick Step all-rounder Chavanel won the second stage of the race in Spa on Monday to take the race lead from Swiss Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara.

However that victory was tinged with controversy as Cancellara, fearing for his team leader Andy Schleck after a crash left the Luxemburger dangerously trailing, negotiated a pact of non-aggression in the peloton which finished the last 30km at a snail's pace.

The incident left Chavanel to race solo to victory, but provoked anger from some teams in the peloton and took the shine off a deserved win.

Having handed over the yellow jersey to Cancellara after a disastrous stage three, Chavanel promised to try for the jersey again.

After racing away from a number of rivals on the descent towards the sixth and final climb of yestrerday's 165.5km race from Tournus to here, Chavanel admitted the Spa incident had been his motivation.

"It's a nice revenge for me," said Chavanel. "When I won (on Monday) the peloton sat up.

"People were telling me this morning that I had a good chance of being in the yellow jersey again today, but I didn't really believe them."