Team Puts Armstrong in Front

There are dangers ahead, plenty of them. Wind and rain are predicted over the next three days, meaning slippery roads and treacherous puddles. A fan could step in the way.

Lance Armstrong knows all about that, having tumbled over a fan last year while heading up a mountain. Or Armstrong could get caught up in a mass crash or get sick or succumb to the realization that a 32-year-old has a harder time climbing a mountain than a 30-year-old.

Armstrong has not won a record-setting sixth consecutive Tour de France yet.

But the smile he had Wednesday afternoon in this 2,000-year-old town of cobblestone streets and church steeples was born of anticipation as much as triumph, of satisfaction as well as joy.

Armstrong earned the yellow jersey, worn each day by the leader of the Tour de France, for the first time in 2004 because he is not only the Tour’s undisputed favorite, but because his team, U.S. Postal Service, is the absolute best. On team trial day, a 40-mile sprint ridden in intermittently heavy downpours and gusty winds from Cambrai, Postal rode as a single, unyielding line of blue-clad, heads-down, straight-ahead machines.

Despite new rules this year, seemingly in response to U.S. Postal’s dominance of last year’s team time trial, Armstrong’s squad gave him precious extra seconds that might matter later.

Through a complicated formula, the time the winning team could gain over its rivals was capped, depending on what place a team finished. So even though Tyler Hamilton’s team, Phonak, finished second, 1 minute 7 seconds behind Postal, Hamilton lost only 20 seconds to Armstrong. And though five-time runner-up and 1997 champion Jan Ullrich’s T-Mobile team finished fourth and 1:19 behind Postal, Ullrich lost only 40 seconds to Armstrong.

But a message had been sent.

The importance of team was proven not only in the winning of the time trial, but on the day before, over the severe cobblestones of Stage 3. Armstrong’s team included several men experienced at riding over the bumpy rocks, and they shepherded their leader safely across the hazards.

Iban Mayo, of Spanish team Euskaltel, wasn’t so lucky. He crashed before the cobblestones and lost more than four minutes to Armstrong. Mayo might still prevail when his favorite mountains approach, but his challenge to Armstrong has been made much more difficult.

At the first time check, a third of the way into Wednesday’s race, U.S. Postal was fifth. But it was not an indication of trouble; it was a sign of patience. The team did not want to ride too aggressively until it had a sense of how wet the roads were and how tricky the winds blew.

As well, Armstrong said, there might have been some anxiety. “We started slow, got behind, maybe some of the guys were nervous. But it’s a sign of a great team to make that up.” By the time the Postal team passed the next checkpoint, it was ahead of the field by 28 seconds.

And by the end, when it counted, U.S. Postal was riding hard and fast and in perfect rhythm. As the team came to the finish line, George Hincapie, a fellow American and the man who has been Armstrong’s teammate for his five consecutive Tour victories, motioned to Armstrong that he should come ahead and ride across the line first. Armstrong refused.

“It’s a team time trial,” Armstrong said. “Nobody is better than the others.”

Armstrong refused to be drawn into criticism of the new rules limiting the damage a single team can do to the field.

“You get 20 seconds,” Armstrong said, “and 20 seconds is what you get.

“But 20 seconds or not, you still have the consolation of knowing you have the best team in the race.”

With his taking of the leader’s jersey Wednesday, Armstrong has now worn yellow 60 times, tying the record of another five-time winner, Miguel Indurain. Armstrong said the record was on his mind all day.

“I knew if we won the team time trial that I would be in yellow,” Armstrong said. “Last night and this morning and during the race I thought about that. It’s amazing to hear the number 60 days. That’s two months. But the only yellow jersey that matters is the one the guy wears on the Champs Elysees. Still, this hits home. It’s pretty powerful.”

In the team trial, the final time is determined when the top five riders from the nine-man teams cross the finish line. That rule made what Hamilton’s team did in finishing second another highlight of the day.

Because of two crashes, a flat tire and some slowpokes, Phonak, a Swiss manufacturer of hearing systems, had only five members cross the finish line. “I’m happy with the way the team rode today,” Hamilton said.

“They were very strong, and we wanted to win. So I’m disappointed for the team we had so many problems.”

It was Hamilton, from Marblehead, Mass., who crashed on the second day of last year’s Tour yet finished fourth overall while competing for three weeks with a broken collarbone. Among the men considered the strongest threats to Armstrong, Hamilton is the closest. He is eighth overall and 36 seconds behind the leader. Ullrich is 55 seconds down. Roberto Heras, a strong climber who rode for Postal last year and who is now the leader of his own team, Liberty Seguros, is 2:25 behind. Mayo is now more than five minutes behind.

“Today was really unbelievable,” Armstrong said. “I was smiling on the bike. It was like a dream.”

The Tour will now settle down into nearly a week of flat racing. Today’s stage across the plains of north and west France ends in Chartres with the steeple of the famous cathedral as the prize at the end of the day. This is the first time in history a Tour stage has ended in Chartres.

Armstrong made it clear Wednesday that he does not expect to wear yellow constantly.

“Our objective isn’t to defend the yellow jersey until the mountains or until Paris,” he said. “I suspect we’ll be willing to give up the jersey to someone else.”

Armstrong’s teammates will be paying close attention to his top rivals while being content to let others earn sprint points and win flat stages. The mountain climbs are mostly packed into the final nine days.

Until then, Armstrong will be careful.

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Stage 4 at a Glance

The fourth stage of the 91st Tour de France:

* Stage: A 40-mile team time trial from Cambrai to Arras, France.

* Winner: U.S. Postal Service.

* How others fared: Germany’s Jan Ullrich’s T-Mobile Team finished fourth, 1 minute 19 seconds behind; American Tyler Hamilton’s Phonak Hearing Systems finished second, 1:07 behind.

* Yellow jersey: Armstrong takes the yellow jersey for the first time in this year’s Tour. Ullrich is 16th, 55 seconds behind; Hamilton is eighth, 36 seconds behind.

* Quote of the day: “I was just smiling on the bike. It was like a dream.”

-- Lance Armstrong, after his team won the stage.

*--* OVERALL LEADERS STAGE 4 RESULTS 1. Lance Armstrong, U.S. 1. U.S. Postal Service 1:12:03 14:54:53 2. George Hincapie, U.S :10 2. Phonak Hearing Systems 1:07 behind behind 3. Floyd Landis, U.S. :16 3. Illes Balears-Ban. Santander behind 1:15 behind 4. Jose Azevedo, Portugal :22 4. T-Mobile Team 1:19 behind behind 5. Jose Luis Rubiera, Spain 5. Team CSC 1:46 behind :24 behind

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