Day 1: Loeb takes charge

Loeb (Citroen) now heads Ford's Markko Martin by 18.3secs, while erstwhile leader Gronholm (Peugeot) has slipped to third, a couple of tenths behind Martin. The Estonian's team-mate Francois Duval is fourth, ahead of Carlos Sainz (Citroen) and reigning champion Petter Solberg of Subaru, whose title defence started badly when he struck a fence on the very opening stage, and he struggled through the day.

Things were looking good for Gronholm on the 26.68km Laborel-L'Aubergerie SS5 test, when he set his second fastest stage time of the day. But although his tyre choice there was perfect, it certainly wasn't for SS6, the final test of the day at Rosans-L'Epine.

The Finn dropped 28.7secs to Loeb, who was fastest through the stage. Gronholm's team-mate Freddy Loix went down the opposite route of tyre choice, and was predictably hopeless in SS5 before storming to the second quickest time on SS6, where Gronholm floundered.

In contrast, Loeb lost just 1.8secs to Gronholm on SS5 but made hay on SS6 to hold a substantial lead over his pursuers. The Frenchman has won the event for the past two seasons, but lost his 2002 win due to a technicality.

Citroen team principal Guy Frequelin said: "Today has been a good result for us, but it's a long rally and tyre choice has been very difficult. The roads can be like Corsica and then, a second later, they can be like Sweden."

Mitsubishi's Gianluigi Galli was the first major victim of the event when he crashed out of eighth position on SS5. The young Italian was an impressive fourth fastest in the new Lancer WRC on SS3.