Nocentini living a dream

He simply walked out of his team bus, signed four autographs and smiled for two photos. Then he climbed onto his bike and was off.

“Who is that, the yellow jersey?’’ a spectator asked in French as Nocentini rode by, straining to get a look at his face. “Darn, I wanted a photo of him. What’s his name?’’

Nocentini does not mind his relative anonymity here. He might not be a cycling superstar like seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong or the 2007 Tour winner, Alberto Contador, but for now he has something that those riders do not: the precious yellow jersey awarded to the race leader.

Since winning that jersey after Stage 7, the first stage in the Pyrenees, he has barely stopped smiling. His teammates say that he has also been singing on rides and in the team bus, often crooning Italian songs that happen to be on his iPod.

“It is an incredible sensation to wear the yellow jersey and feel this on my back,’’ Nocentini said before Stage 10, his third day of racing clad in yellow. “It is every cyclist’s dream to reach this kind of glory.’’

Nocentini stayed in yellow yesterday which turned out to be a special moment for his French AG2R La Mondiale team because it was Bastille Day. He and the rest of the peloton rode a 120.9-mile course that began in Limoges, famous for its porcelain.

The British rider Mark Cavendish took advantage of a relatively flat route that cut through sunflower and wheat fields. He was, again, the first rider to cross the finish line, winning his third stage of this Tour.

But yesterday’s stage was different from the rest. Tour officials had barred teams from using radios, the first of a two-day ban that a majority of teams had resisted. Teams that used radios during the stage faced disqualification, International Cycling Union officials said.

Tour officials had said riders would be forced to make more decisions on their own, without relying on direction from their team officials following the race in a team car.

Cavendish appeared unfazed by the ban. He said that the relatively slow pace of the race for the first three hours - about 23.6 miles per hour - was not a form of protest. “It’s not that easy,’’ he said of riding at that pace.

For Nocentini, however, getting to this Tour was not that easy. He grew up in rural Tuscany, in a house surrounded by olive trees, vineyards and nine brothers and sisters (He was the second youngest). He won his very first cycling race - because he was the only one in it. “If I keep going this way, I probably will always win,’’ Nocentini, the son of a bricklayer, said of that day.

He began his professional career in 1999, staying with smaller Italian teams before joining AG2R La Mondiale three years ago.

On AG2R, the pressure to win was not nearly as great as it was in Italy, he said, and he blossomed. He won a stage of the Tour of California this year and asked to be included on the team’s Tour squad, which, according to team rules, must have five French riders. He was granted one of the four open spots.

“Every year in the Tour there are days when anyone could take the jersey, and every one of us comes in dreaming of that possibility,’’ said Nicolas Roche, of Ireland, who is Nocentini’s teammate. “But Rinaldo actually achieved it. For us, it wasn’t unexpected. He might not be the most famous rider, but he is not unknown in the cycling world.’’

Nocentini went into Stage 7 in 32d place in the overall standings, but leaped to first in front of Armstrong, Contador and a long list of favorites. He is the first Italian rider since Alberto Elli, in 2000, to wear the maillot jaune.

But his time in yellow is most likely dwindling.

Contador is in second place in the overall standings, six seconds behind Nocentini. Armstrong is in third, eight seconds out.

For now, their Astana squad has chosen to sit back and let other teams like Nocentini’s do the work until Friday, when the race heads into the Alps. While Nocentini and AG2R La Mondiale will fight to keep the yellow jersey, Astana will save its energy.

“It’s good for us because Astana needs all the force they can get for the Alps and we want to keep the yellow jersey,’’ the AG2R race director, Julien Jurdie, said. “When they want it, they will take it. But now, everybody is happy.’’

Since winning the jersey, Nocentini, who has “Carpe Diem’’ tattooed on his forearm and his first name, in Japanese, on the back of his neck, has been even more bubbly than usual, his teammates say.

“I could go another three, four days at the head of the entire race,’’ Nocentini said. “This is a very sweet dream.’’