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STAGE 4: MONTPELLIER, 39 KM (TEAM TIME-TRIAL): TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 4: ASTANA ACES TTT; ARMSTRONG SECOND OVERALL
By Chris Henry in Montpellier
July 7, 2009
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Alberto Contador and Team Astana in full flight toward their stage victory
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Fabian Cancellara and the Saxo Bank team only finished third in today's 39km team time trial but they held off a charging Astana squad to maintain the Swiss champion's yellow jersey today by the smallest of margins. 22/100ths of a second now separate Cancellara from Lance Armstrong after Astana took the day's glory around the city of Montpellier. This was the first Tour de France team time trial since 2005, which just happened to be the last year Armstrong raced here.
The seven-time Tour winner showed already in yesterday's stage 3 that he was riding astutely, and riding for results. Today he took his fourth career team time trial victory in the Tour and for much of the race was tantalizingly close to a new yellow jersey, denied in the end by fractions of a second.
Astana itself dashed the hopes of the Garmin-Slipstream team, which finished second on the day just 18-seconds back with an impressive and smooth display of speed. Saxo Bank finished third, profiting from Cancellara's self-proclaimed "Swiss time precision".
"The first thing I saw was that we were 41-seconds behind Astana, and I think at the end I had 40-seconds to Lance," he said, explaining his anxious moments in the team bus waiting for Astana to finish. "I was a bit nervous to still be in yellow with just hundredths of seconds but I think my team and I can be proud of what we did today."
Driving Forces
Cancellara and Armstrong, while riding solidly with their teams, each played a dominant role in the end results. The two took long, powerful pulls at the front yet both knew how not to explode their teams. Armstrong said that his advice to teammate Alberto Contador before the race was to ride a perfect race making it "virtually impossible" for other teams to win. Cancellara, meanwhile, used his men wisely and recognized how only a team effort could save his jersey.
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Yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara leads Saxo Bank across the line
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
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"I think in the end I let the team know that I might do some more work, or some longer pulls, but in the end it wasn't up to me to be the fastest," he explained. "It was the team that did the work together and for sure I played my card to give my maximum but I always made sure not to go too fast or accelerate too much to wear out the team."
"If I only thought about myself, it's clear that we wouldn't still have this jersey," he admitted.
Effectively, Armstrong and Cancellara are considered to be on equal time. The final verdict handing the yellow jersey back to Cancellara was based not on time splits in today's team time trial; rather, the difference in hundredths of a second recorded from the stage 1 time trial were used to determine who would lead the race heading into Wednesday's fifth stage.
"We were as sound as we could be, so I have no regrets," Armstrong said. "I don't look at that and lose sleep or get disappointed. This is a long race, and maybe there's [a yellow jersey] in my future."
A hallmark of Armstrong's preparation for his seven Tour de France victories was an obsessive level of detail in planning with his director, Johan Bruyneel. This time around there was no practice as a complete team and minimal discussion of the start order.
"That's maybe one of those things that's changed," he explained. "We didn't try any other order, although with this particular course the order is irrelevant because guys get dropped, guys sit out... so the order becomes completely different than what it was supposed to be."
"But as usual, he was right and I think the result speaks for itself," Armstrong said of Bruyneel's decision.
Alberto Contador moved into third overall, followed by two more Astana riders, Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer. Garmin's Christian Vande Velde is up to 12th overall, within one minute of the Armstrong/Contador duo. Team Saxo Bank's hope for the overall classification, Andy Schleck, sits in 20th spot while other contendors including Cadel Evans, Denis Menchov, and Carlos Sastre could only try to limit their losses in the standings.
Stage 4: July 7, Montpellier - Montpellier 39 km TTT
1. Astana 47min 29sec
2. Garmin-Slipstream @ 0:18
3. Saxo Bank @ 0:40
4. Liquigas @ 0:58
5. Columbia-HTC @ 0:59
6. Katusha @ 1:23
7. Caisse d'Epargne @ 1:29
8. Cervélo TestTeam @ 1:38
9. AG2R-La Mondiale @ 1:49
10. Euskaltel-Euskadi @ 2:10
Overall Classification After Stage 4
1. Fabian Cancellara (SWI / Saxo Bank) 10h38min 07sec
2. Lance Armstrong (USA / Astana) @ s.t.
3. Alberto Contador (SPA / Astana) @ 0:19
4. Andreas Kloden (GER / Astana) @ 0:23
5. Levi Leipheimer (USA / Astana) @ 0:31
6. Bradley Wiggins (GBR / Garmin-Slipstream) @ 0:38
7. Haimar Zubeldia (SPA / Astanta) @ 0:51
8. Tony Martin (GER / Team High Road-HTC @ 0:52
9. David Zabriskie (USA / Garmin-Slipstream) @ 1:06
10. David Millar (GBR / Garmin-Slipstream) @ 1:07
Other Classifications
Green Jersey: Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC)
Polka Dot Jersey: Jussi Veikkanen (Francaise des Jeux)
White Jersey: Tony Martin (Columbia-HTC)
Teams: Astana
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