Thursday, July 13 Belgian rider captures Stage Two
	Associated Press NANTES, France -- Belgium's Tom Steels won his second straight stage at the Tour de France Monday, bursting ahead of a bunched pack in a dramatic sprint. Germany's Erik Zabel was a close second. Defending champion Lance Armstrong conserved his energy in the third leg of the Tour prior to Tuesday's important team time trials. In an action-packed finish, overall Tour leader David Millar was part of a pileup among several racers about a half-mile from the finish. He recovered quickly and completed the race. With a large group crossing the line within seconds, there was little change in the overall standings. The riders began the stage in the old town of Loudun and covered 100 miles, passing by Muscadet vineyards and rolling fields of sunflowers. Monday's mild weather made conditions for sprinting almost ideal. The course ended with a fast final half-mile. Armstrong's U.S. Postal team will be among the favorites to win the trial, but he said the race would be wide open. "We have a good team, but it's still too early to tell," Armstrong said before setting off Monday. "We are just one name on a very long list." Going into Monday's stage, Armstrong was second overall in the standings, four seconds behind Millar. On Sunday, Steels won the race between Futuroscope and Loudun. But with all riders crossing within seconds of each other, there was little impact on the overall standings. Armstrong's team expressed satisfaction that Sunday's race had been close and said Tuesday's time trial could be decisive. Teams face the prospect of dropping a couple of minutes off the pace if they perform badly. Armstrong finished the second stage in 38th place. On Sunday, Steels completed the mostly flat 120-mile course in 4 hours, 46 minutes, 8 seconds. He beat Australia's Stuart O'Grady in a sprint to the finish. O'Grady, of Credit Agricole, barely beat Zabel. "It was close with O'Grady," said Steels, a member of the Mapei team. "It's very important to take a victory early, especially with a team like ours with lots of sprinters." Laurent Jalabert of France was third in the 21-stage event, 15 seconds off the overall pace. Germany's Jan Ullrich was 16 seconds behind and Spain's David Canada 18 seconds back. Millar, hoping his team does enough this week to retain the yellow jersey, said jokingly: "I don't like massive sprints very much. I don't even like to watch them. Sprinters are crazy." Tyler Hamilton, Armstrong's teammate, cut an elbow when he fell after 23½ miles. He continued after receiving medical attention. "My handlebars went into some guy's rear wheel and I crashed," Hamilton said. "I was a little shaken up. But it could have been worse." Hamilton said the mood of the pack had been "nervy" in the first day of road racing. Millar had the choice to wear three jerseys - yellow for race leader, green for points leader and white for best young rider. Millar chose yellow and gave the green to his nearest rival, Armstrong. Steels won three stages in last year's Tour and would have had a fourth but was disqualified for bumping an opponent in a dash to the finish.		ALSO SEE Armstrong opens defense of Tour in second place Stage Two results AUDIO/VIDEO  Tom Steels wins the exciting sprint to the finish line in Stage Two. avi: 1258 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1