Astana’s all-star team showed their strength to win the team time-trial in stage four of the Tour de France at Montpellier, as Fabian Cancellara defended his yellow jersey from Lance Armstrong by less than a second. Chasing Garmin-Slipstream’s time of 46′47″ on a testing, technical course, Alberto Contador led Astana across the finish line 18 seconds up on the American team, and 40 seconds ahead of Cancellara’s Saxo Bank team. The Swiss specialist kept his yellow jersey despite being level on time with Armstrong on the general classification, denying Armstrong a fairytale return to the Tour.

L’Astana del texano Armstrong vince la quarta tappa del Tour. Lance raggiunge al comando lo svizzero che però conserva la maglia gialla grazie al conteggio dei centesimi della cronometro individuale di Montecarlo.