Armstrong Misses Yellow By A Hair

Stage four was a change of pace for the Tour de France. It was a team trial. Each team raced together against the clock, and they all added to their individual times the time scored by the top five members of the team. The course was a hilly and narrow 39 kilometer course that started and ended in Montpellier. Several teams suffered crashes, and in the end, it was a very exciting stage.

Astana was expected to win the stage and they did. Garmin finished second, Saxo Bank third, Liquigas fourth and Columbia fifth. Astana needed to beat Saxo Bank by more than 40 seconds to give Lance Armstrong the yellow jersey of the race leader, but they won by 40 seconds and Armstrong is now in second place. He is 0.002 seconds behind the leader, Fabian Cancellara. It couldn't have been any closer.

Stage five is a fairly flat course, with only two small catagorey 4 climbs. It should be the last stage for the sprinters to shine, because stage six and seven start a series of fairly mountainous stages. Here are the current standings:

YELLOW JERSEY (OVERALL LEADERS)
1. Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank)
2. Lance Armstrong (Astana)..........0.002
3. Alberto Contador (Astana)..........0.19
4. Andreas Kloden (Astana)..........0.23
5. Levi Leipheimer (Astana)..........0.31
6. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin)..........0.38
7. Haimar Zubeldia (Astana)..........0.51
8. Tony Martin (Columbia)..........0.52
9. David Zabriskie (Garmin)..........1.06
10. David Millar (Garmin)..........1.07

GREEN JERSEY (SPRINTERS)
1. Mark Cavendish (Columbia)..........70 pts
2. Thor Hushovd (Cervelo)..........54 pts
3. Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis)..........36 pts
4. Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank)..........35 pts
5. Maxime Bouet (Agritubel)..........31 pts

POLKA DOT JERSEY (CLIMBERS)
1. Jussi Veikkanen (Francaise)..........9 pts
2. Tony Martin (Columbia)..........6 pts
3. Koen De Kort (Skil-Shimano)..........6 pts
4. Cyril Dessel (AG2R)..........5 pts
5. Maxime Bouet (Agritubel)..........4 pts

TEAM STANDINGS
1. Astana
2. Saxo Bank..........2.33
3. Columbia..........2.45
4. Garmin..........3.05
5. Liquigas..........4.26