Fabian Cancellara remains in the yellow jersey, but only by the barest of margins. On a day when Team Astana imposed themselves on the Tour de France it took a count-back all the way back to the opening prologue to find that Cancellara led the overall standings by less than a second from none other than the great one himself, Lance Armstrong.
Stage 4 provided the first real rendezvous of this years race with a 39km team time trial around Montepellier. And after putting four riders in the top 10 in the opening ITT, it was no surprise to see Astana take the honours on the day. The team, boasting the likes of Armstrong, Alberto Contador, Levi Leiphiemer and Andreas Kloden, produced enough to hold off the TTT specialists in Garmin - Slipstream to win the day by 18 seconds. Saxo Bank filled the podium in third finishing 40 seconds behind the Astana boys. Team Colombia may have been feeling the effects of the tough finish to yesterdays stage, and may be be slightly disappointed to finish a minute back in 5th. The big losers on the day were Denis Menchov, who was hampered by a crash in the opening kilometres, and Cadel Evans whose teams (Rabobank and Silence Lotto) finished a respective 2:21 and 2:36 off the pace. Neither can win the Tour now and should devote the rest of their campaign to stage victories or the mountains classification. Linus Gerderman, will also be disappointed to see his Milram team lose 2:49 to put him out of the running.
The TTT has seen a marked shake-up to the GC, with yellow jersey wearer Cancellara the only non Astana/Garmin rider left in the top 10. Of the GC hopes, Armstrong now sits highest in second on the same time as Cancellara. Contador is 19 seconds back in third, followed by teammates Kloden and Leipheimer. Roman Kreuziger, helped by an excellent performance from his Liquigas team (4th), is there abouts in 15th, just ahead of Michael Rogers in 16th, the pair 90 seconds off the pace. Andy Schleck moves up to 20th and is in striking distance just 1 minute 41 seconds off the pace. He can easily make that time up in the mountains. Tony Martin continues to hold the lead in the White Jersey competition despite Team Colombia's slight under-performance. I can't see anyone outside the top 20 winning the race from here, and for me it is now down to three men - Armstrong (9/2), Contador (4/5 fav), and Schleck (11/1) - to fight for the golden fleece in Paris.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey - Jussi Veikkanen
White Jersey - Tony Martin
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