Armstrong just misses yellow as Astana dominate TT

Montpellier:

Lance Armstrong dramatically missed out on the yellow jersey by the slimmest of margins on Tuesday after his Astana team blew their rivals apart in the Tour de France's fourth stage time trial.

Astana came over the finish line of the 39km race against the clock 40secs ahead of the Saxo Bank team of Fabian Cancellara, who began and finished the race in the yellow jersey.

However Armstrong, the seven-time champion who moved up seven places from 10th to third after Monday's equally dramatic third stage, has shown once again that he fully intends to stay in contention for an eighth Tour crown.

"It's a little bit of a disappointment (to miss) but the yellow jersey is on the horizon," said Armstrong.

"Astana did their maximum."

Armstrong, returning to the race four years after his record seventh triumph in 2005, is now second overall in the overall standings at 0sec behind Cancellara, missing taking the yellow jersey by two tenths of a second.

Ahead of three key mountain stages in the Pyrenees, beginning on Friday, Armstrong and his team are in the driving seat.

Cancellara is not a real contender for the yellow jersey and so Armstrong, at this point, will be seen by some as the virtual race leader.

Adding some intrigue to the race is the fact that Astana's official team leader Alberto Contador, the 2007 champion, is now third overall at 19secs adrift while another two Astana riders, Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer, are not too far behind.

The Garmin team of David Millar and Bradley Wiggins had earlier done well to finish in second, only 18secs behind Astana, in an event they desperately wanted to win.

The American team's bid came undone earlier than they had hoped when they lost four of their riders early in the race, leaving them to battle to the finish with five.

Italian outfit Liquigas impressed in the time trial by finishing fourth at 58secs, one second ahead of Columbia.

Defending yellow jersey champion Carlos Sastre suffered his second big setback on the race, after losing time to key rivals in the opening stage time trial, when his Cervelo team finished eighth at 1:37 behind Astana.