Norwegian Thor Hushovd tightened his grip on the race's points competition after picking up 17 points for his ninth place finish on the Tour de France fourth stage on Wednesday.
Hushovd, a former two-time winner, took possession of the competition's green jersey when he battled to a superb win over the cobbles of Tuesday's third stage to leave British rival Mark Cavendish 62 points adrift.
On Wednesday the big Cervelo rider was expected to be in the mix for another stage win - that would have given him 35 points to add to his account.
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But after his heroic efforts on Tuesday, Hushovd said he simply didn't have the power.
He could only finish in ninth as Italian veteran Alessandro Petacchi rolled back the years to take his second win of the race for Lampre and with it 35 points for the win.
"Today I just didn't have the power in the sprint," said Hushovd.
"The first three stages were very nervous and yesterday I put a lot of energy into winning that stage at Arenberg."
HTC-Columbia's Cavendish came into the race declaring his green jersey ambition having finished in Paris last year with six stage wins under his belt.
Yet the self-proclaimed "fastest man on two wheels" may have to review those plans after yet another day off the podium.
Tour de France sprint legend Erik Zabel, a six-time winner of the green jersey and an advisor to Cavendish, said before the start of Wednesday's stage that Cavendish's dream may already be over.
"It's an unspoken rule in the Tour that you can miss one stage, be 30, 35 points behind and it's still no problem because the (other) sprinters can have some bad luck," Zabel told AFP.
"But now, 62 points, it's a lot."
Cavendish's 12th place on Wednesday meant that he did at least get up and running. He started the day with one point, and although he now has 15 his deficit to Hushovd is 65.
Ahead of three days in the Alps from Saturday to Tuesday, which also includes the race's first rest day on Monday, Cavendish has a chance to hit back on Thursday's stage to Montargis.
Cavendish's lead-out man Mark Renshaw said their race is not over yet.
"We'll go away and have a talk about things tonight but we'll be back tomorrow and we'll be looking for the stage win," said the Australian.
