CYCLING / TOUR DE FRANCE : Finishing 50th Keeps Bauer in Yellow Jersey

After a day of protest and rain, calm and sunshine returned to the Tour de France on Tuesday. No sheep farmers protesting meat prices. No diversion. Just a flock of cyclists in the first mass sprint of the 77th running of the event.

One thing remained unchanged. Canadian Steve Bauer retained the yellow jersey of the tour’s leader when he finished 50th, but had the same time as the leader, in the fourth stage, a relatively flat 126-mile course from Nantes through Brittany to historic Mont St. Michel. He leads Frans Maassen of the Netherlands by 12 seconds and Ronan Pensec of France by 30.

Belgium’s Johan Museeuw won Tuesday’s stage in 5 hours 23 minutes 33 seconds, but his victory was overshadowed by a tactical battle between archrivals Greg LeMond of Reno, Nev., and Laurent Fignon that raged throughout the day.

Fignon, a Frenchman who lost by eight seconds to LeMond in last year’s race, was stopped by a massive pile-up eight miles from the finish and lost more than 30 seconds to his American rival, who rode safely at the front of the pack.

“It was very dangerous today because of the strong wind,” said LeMond. “The only solution was to ride in front to avoid falls.

“I’m nervous out there. It’s dangerous to stay in the pack when we’re all together like that. That’s why I like to stay near the front.”

The fall occurred on a tight bend as Bauer and LeMond led the bunch at top speed toward the 11th-Century fortified rock off the French northwestern coast.

The pack split, and despite a strong effort by his teammates, Fignon could not make up the lost time as the sprinters geared up for the surge to the line.

Two-time champion LeMond, who finished 41st in Tuesday’s stage, is 10:37 behind the leader in 24th place.

Bauer, a 31-year-old from Fenwick, Canada, gained the lead after the first stage and maintained it in the second stage’s team time trial. He finished Tuesday in the same time as Museeuw--as did 48 others in a race with few breakaway attempts--to underline conditioning that can help him maintain his lead through today’s 188-mile fifth stage from Avrances to Rouen, the longest stage since the 1969 tour.

Tuesday’s stage started with a leisurely route through Brittany, from which five-time champion Bernard Hinault hails, and ended at Mont St. Michel, a picturesque abbey built on a rocky island in the middle of a bay. It was the first time since 1903 that the Tour de France has visited Mont St. Michel.