Stage 4

The road

At the start

Twenty-five kilometres, nine men

Bakelants keeps yellow by a second, and the race crosses to the mainland for a team time trial along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. Flat, fast, and the first day on which a general classification rider can lose a Tour he has not yet started fighting for. Omega Pharma-QuickStep are world champions at this; Orica-GreenEdge have Gerrans and Impey a second off yellow.

How it was won

1. 112 km to go

   Third at the check

   Omega Pharma-QuickStep, the world team time trial champions, set the benchmark early. Orica-GreenEdge come through the intermediate split third fastest, three seconds down — and then ride the second half of the Promenade des Anglais quicker than anybody.

2. 2At the line

   Seventy-five hundredths of a second

   25:56, and Orica-GreenEdge win the Nice team time trial by three quarters of a second from the Belgians, with Sky third at three seconds. Geraint Thomas, riding with a cracked pelvis, stays in the rotation until the flamme rouge before letting go.

The result