GWENT'S British road race champion Julian Winn looked every part the medal-winner many pundits have suggested ahead of this month's Commonwealth Games, at the tough Grainger Northumberland Two-Day Race.

The Abergavenny-born star was again in impressive form against the top-draw entry list as preparations for the Games in Manchester later this month gather pace.

This was one of the last races Winn could compete in before the Commonwealth event and another winning display provides him with all the ammunition he needs to blast his rivals off the track.

Winn blitzed the Premier Calendar three-stage race with his typical all-out approach against the 70-strong field.

Top-riders John Tanner, Mark Lovett and Kevin Dawson had no answer to Winn's superiority, epitomised on the opening stage as the Welshman outsprinted Tanner after a long 60-mile ride.

Stage two saw the riders pick up the pace on a nine-mile time trial and again it was Gwent's medal hope who crossed the line in the fastest time to increase his overall lead.

A gruelling 90-mile final stage along the Pottery Bank roads, including a climb over Bilsmoor, saw Winn finish comfortably to nail another winning jersey and with it the number-one spot.

Winn heads to Manchester on July 25.

* Rubens Bertogliati of Lampre Daikin gambled and won to claim stage one of the Tour de France in Luxembourg, taking the yellow jersey from Lance Armstrong in the process.

With the bulk of riders approaching the finish in a bunch, Telekom and CSC Tiscali jockeyed to provide a platform from which Erik Zabel and Laurent Jalabert could push for the line.

But Bertogliati surprised everyone by breaking from the pack to make a solo bid for glory.

Both teams hesitated to commit themselves for fear of losing ground on the other and Bertogliati took advantage to secure his first professional win.

It was an unexpected success for the Swiss rider, who will enjoy the glory of riding in yellow in Saarbrucken tomorrow.

He also toppled Britain's David Millar from the head of the under-25s category.

However, the Malta-born Scot is in a strong position at sixth overall.

Frenchman Jalabert, who lost yesterday's prologue to defending champion Lance Armstrong, could have topped the general classification with a win after winning two bonus seconds from an early sprint.

But he again lost out - this time to Bertogliati - and his disappointment was only mitigated a little by the news that he had moved ahead of the Texan into second place.

Zabel - the focus of Telekom's efforts in the absence of Jan Ullrich this year - finished second and was rewarded with the green jersey.

The German is bidding to win the points competition for an unprecedented seventh time and he got the better of Lotto-Adecco's Robbie McEwen, who has designs on his title but was forced into third place.