July 10, 2002 – (Ch’teau-Thierry, France) – What a difference a day makes.
The battle for the yellow jersey took flight today with the top teams duking
it out for valuable time. ONCE-Eroski, the main favourite to win, took the
stage over Lance Armstrong and his USPS squad. Laurent Jalabert
(CSC-Tiscali), who going into the stage was a few seconds from securing the
yellow jersey, rode an excellent TTT, but it was not enough today.

CSC-Tiscali were initially leading but after their TT
specialist and Danish National Champion Michael Sandstod flatted, the team’s
pace slowed slighty. They would finish 3rd overall, and Jalabert now finds
himself out of the top ten and a little over half a minute behind.

Armstrong’s squad was superb and almost matched the powerful ONCE-Eroski
team in this unique stage. As USPS and ONCE-Eroski put over 2 minutes into
the rest of the teams, the GC is now dominated by their riders. Spanish
favourite Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (ONCE-Eroski) finds himself in the
yellow jersey with previous podium finisher and teammate Joseba Beloki
(ONCE-Eroski) in 2nd, followed by Armstrong in 3rd.

Stage 4: Epernay – Ch’teau-Thierry TTT, 67.5 km

1. ONCE-Eroski 1.19.49 (50.74 km/h)

2. US Postal Service 0.16
3. CSC-Tiscali 0.46

4. Fassa Bortolo 1.30

5. Cofidis 1.44

6 iBanesto.com 1.56

7. Domo-Farm Frites 2.12

8. Rabobank 2.16

9. Kelme-Costa Blanca 2.19

10. Lampre-Daikin 2.22

11. Credit Agricole 2.28
12. Team Telekom 2.47

13. Bonjour 3.13

14. Alessio 3.15

15. Lotto-Adecco 3.32

16. FDJeux.com 3.34

17. Jean Delatour 3.43

18. Tacconi Sport-Emmegi 3.45

19. Mapei-Quick Step 3.47

20. Euskaltel-Euskadi 4.22

21. Ag2R Prevoyance 4.24

Overall:

1. Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 14.51.50

2. Joseba Beloki (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 0.04

3. Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service 0.07

4. J—rg Jaksche (Ger) ONCE-Eroski 0.12

5. Abraham Olano (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 0.22

6. Roberto Heras Hernandez (Spa) US Postal Service 0.25

7. Isidro Nozal (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 0.27

8. JosÈ Azevedo (Por) ONCE-Eroski 0.28

9. George Hincapie (USA) US Postal Service
10. Marcos A.Serrano (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 0.30

11. Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal Service 0.32

12. Alvaro Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa) ONCE-Eroski

13. JosÈ Luis Rubiera Vigil (Spa) US Postal Service 0.35

14. Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal Service 0.35

15. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) CSC-Tiscali 0.37

16. Tyler Hamilton (USA) CSC-Tiscali 0.53

17. Andrea Peron (Ita) CSC-Tiscali

18. Pavel Padrnos (Cze) US Postal Service 0.55

19. Carlos Sastre (Spa) CSC-Tiscali 1.00

20. Benoit Joachim (Lux) US Postal Service 1.09