Belgium's Tom Steels, riding for the Mapei team, won the 200km 17th stage of the Tour de France from Mourenx to Bordeaux yesterday. Steels finished in 4 hours 22 minutes 29 seconds, winning a sprint finish ahead of Australian Robbie McEwen and points leader Erik Zabel of Germany, riding for Telekom.

Lance Armstrong of the United States retained the overall leader's yellow jersey with a 6 minute 15 second advantage over Spain's Fernando Escartin and is ready to claim the crown with just three day's racing remaining.

Steels won a thrilling finale - for his third stage victory - after he ducked and dived through rivals from Telekom, who had hoped to lead Zabel to his first win after three second places. Steels forced his way to the line as McEwen nipped in ahead of the crestfallen Zabel.

Zabel was looking to rekindle his happy memories of the Bordeaux stage as the peloton progressed along the largely flat roads of the Gironde region famed for its wines - but he was unable to drink to success after missing out so agonisingly on a hat-trick of wins at the venue.

The German retained the green points jersey as consolation after major rival Stuart O'Grady fell 1,500 metres from the finish. The Australian picked himself up to make the line.

The leading trio set up their final dash after catching Carlos Da Cruz and Rolf Huser, who had enjoyed a brief spell in the lead in the closing stages of a 140km eight-strong breakaway.

Before the stage, Mapei's Russian team-leader, Pavel Tonkov, who had been 11th in the overall standings, pulled out following a family bereavement. His withdrawal left 141 survivors with team sprint duties passing to Steels.

The day's racing was marred near the finish when someone at the roadside threw an abrasive liquid in the direction of the riders. Some were seen rubbing irritated eyes as they battled to retain their composure.