In Stage Four, Tour de France Becomes Tour de Frenchmen

France’s Cyril Saugrain won Wednesday’s fourth stage of the Tour de France and countryman Stephane Heulot jumped to the overall lead.

Both riders were part of a five-man break that finished more than four minutes ahead of the main pack of riders in the flat 143.8-mile stage from Soissons to Lac de Madine.

Saugrain and Heulot are each racing in their first Tour de France.

“For the team, it’s extraordinary to win a tour stage,” said Saugrain, whose Aubervilliers 93 squad was a last-minute entry into this year’s race.

“It’s a dream to win a Tour de France stage,” said Saugrain, 23. “I began to think about the win at 25 kilometers to go; maybe we could hold onto it.”

Five-time defending Tour champion Miguel Indurain lost nearly three minutes in Wednesday’s stage and dropped to 11th overall, 4:17 behind. American Lance Armstrong finished with Indurain and is 54th overall at 5:03.

Heulot started Wednesday’s stage 43 seconds back and took the overall lead from countryman Frederic Moncassin in the stage marred by a crash in the final sprint with the main pack of riders.

Czech Jan Svorada nipped a tire in the final 100 yards and went down hard, taking out three other riders with him.