July 7, 2009
Tour de France Stage Four: Montpellier to Montpellier (TTT)
39 kilometers (24.2 miles)

Coming off a herculean effort in yesterday’s road stage, Team Columbia-HTC rallied to hammer through a tough and technical team time trial course today, finishing the 39 kilometer (24.2mi) course in 47:28, averaging just about 30mph. The ride was good enough to put them in fifth place on the day.

Narrow roads and winding turns challenged nerves as well as legs, as the team worked together to keep the speed high and the paceline tight. Starting second-to-last (teams started in inverse order of their position in the overall team classification competition) they hit the pavement and set out to conserve time and defend the GC positions of yellow-jersey contenders Kim Kirchen and Michael (Mick) Rogers.

Starting behind them, Team Astana was heavily favored to win the day - and they delivered on the hype.

Covering the course in 46:29 at an average of 31.2 miles per hour, previous Tour de France winners Alberto Contador (2007) and Lance Armstrong (1999-2005) hammered at the front of front of the blue-and-yellow train to drive the pace, with long pulls from previous tour podium finishers Levi Leipheimer (3rd in 2007) and Andreas Kloden (2nd in 2006).

The stacked Astana crew bested second place Garmin-Slipstream by 18 seconds and put 40 seconds into Team Saxo-Bank, coming within hundredths of a second of taking the overall race lead from Saxo-Bank’s Fabian Cancellara.

The margin between Cancellara and Armstrong in the overall standings was so slight that it is being listed at “zero seconds” in the official race results. Half a second faster and Armstrong would have been in back in the yellow jersey for the first time since his retirement in 2005 – as it is, he’ll have to settle for second on the GC, at least for the moment.

What it means

Today’s stage shook up the general classification, moving several Astana riders up in the standings giving them a total of 5 in the top-ten overall (they hold 2nd through 5th, as well as 7th place). With so many strong contenders, Astana team leadership is still up in the air – look for things should shake out in the mountains later this week.

Columbia-HTC’s Tony Martin slipped from 2nd to 8th place, but retained control of the white Best Young Rider’s Jersey.

The time lost today caused Team Columbia-HTC to slip from 2nd to 3rd overall in the team classification competition, but GC-contender Kim Kirchen actually moved up from 37th  to 24th. Sitting just a little over 2 minutes off the pace of the yellow jersey, Kirchen is in a decent position to battle his way into the top 5 when the race heads into the mountains.

The team will return to its primary objective tomorrow and will look to put Mark Cavendish across the line first at the end of another long (and potentially windy) flat road stage. Cavendish remains in the lead of the Sprinter’s Classification and will once again wear the coveted green jersey.

Looking ahead to Stage Five
Le Cap d'Agde to Perpignan, 196.5 kilometers

The relatively flat stage 5 route shares many similarities with Stage 3, where we saw Team Columbia-HTC shatter the field with an attack into strong crosswinds. The tour will head along the Mediterranean coast after a start in Cap d'Agde, one of France's most popular seaside resorts. The 'Tramontane', a typical gale coming from the Pyrenees, could be a factor and has the potential to split the pack again if riders are not paying attention.

Look for an early breakaway to form, followed by a chase from the sprinter’s teams. The peloton will aim to catch the break in the final 10k or so in order to set their fast-men up for a sprint finish in Perpignan.