The ONCE team won the fourth stage of the Tour de France from Epernay to Chateau-Thierry today after a 67km team time trial. The team victory handed ONCE rider Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano of Spain the race leader's yellow jersey. ONCE finished 16sec ahead of the US Postal team of reigning champion Lance Armstrong, while the CSC team of French rider Laurent Jalabert finished third.
Galdeano, although delighted to be wearing the yellow jersey, was keeping his feet firmly on the ground saying, "It's every cyclists' dream to pull on the yellow jersey, I want to thank my team who rode brilliantly today. But the Tour won't be decided by the team time trial. There's still other time trials, and the mountains to come so I don't think Lance Armstrong will be worried too much."
Meanwhile Armstrong seemed content with the performance of his team saying, "I'm happy with the team's performance. I'm not disappointed at all. We had no accidents, no punctures so nothing's really been lost."
Tomorrow's stage takes the riders 195 km East from Soissons to Rouen.
Filed by Johnny Proby
