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Tour de France - Villers-Cotteręts - Joigny

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  1. 0km - Hushovd goes for the line....and he has it!!! Julian Dean gave him the perfect lead out. Robbie Hunter was just millimetres behind.

  2. 0.5km - Hushovd hits the front, Boonen is nowhere to be seen!!

  3. 1km - The Quickstep train hits the front!!

  4. 1.7km - German champion Fabian Wegmann hits the front now. He's working for big Robert Forster.

  5. 3km - Milram are conspicuous in their absence at the front.

  6. 3.5km - Four Barloworld riders are there for Robbie Hunter, there;s a good presence from T-Mobile too. Could Mark Cavendish make an impact?

  7. 5km - A big Liquigas train has moved to the fore on the left hand side of the field.

  8. 7km - Flecha and Knees give eachother a mutual pat on the back as they are overtaken by the field.

  9. 9km - Matthieu Sprick has attacked with nine kilometres to go. Flecha goes with him, as does Knees. Verdugo and Chavanel think better of it.

  10. 10km - The pack have the lead five in their sights now as they pass under the 10km banner.

  11. 12km - Gorgeous scenery here in the Vallée de l'Yonne. Not that the riders have much time to take in the views. 32 seconds is the latest split.

  12. 15km - Remy Di Greorio has fallen off the back. He is still suffering from that fall, and has blood down his leg. He used up a huge amount of energy just getting back to the peloton after the fall.

  13. 16km - Bouygues' Anthony Geslin goes down toward the back of the peloton, though is straight back up and on his bike.

  14. 17.3k - 1'00" still the gap. It looks like this will be one for the sprinters. The long, straight finish should be ideal for Tom Boonen.

  15. 19km - Big Marzio Bruseghin is hauling the peloton along. His time-trialling ability makes him an excellent man for helping hunt down breakaways.

  16. 22km - Christian Knees (Milram) tries an attack, but is rapidly reeled back in.

  17. 23km - The gap has come down to just one minute now. These five are almost certain to be caught barring any huge surprises.

  18. 32km - Thanks to the time bonuses picked up throughout the day, Juan Antonio Flecha has managed to reduce his arrears on the yellow jersey of Fabian Cancellara to 1'00", while Sylvain Chavanel is now just 44" back.

  19. 40km - It's a very up and down 40 kilometres into the finish. The CSC and Quickstep teams are doing the majority of the work on the front of the peloton. The gap is still hovering around the 1'50" mark.

  20. 44km - Knees is first up the fourth-category Cote de Bel-Air, ahead of Sprick and Chavanel. All of which means that Stephane Auge will keep hold of the polkadot jersey today.

  21. 46km - Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel) has suffered a puncture in the peloton! He'll have to work hard to get back with the other four.

  22. 48km - Matteo Tossato and Staf Scheirlinkx have both taken a tumble. Scheirlinkx has rolled up to the medical car for some treatment, though should be fine to continue.

  23. 49km - Chavanel is first to the top of the Cote de Galbaux, followed by Knees and Flecha in second and third respectively.

  24. 50km - The sprinters teams have started the pursuit in the peloton. There's still a long way to go, but they're taking absolutely no chances. 1'55" now the gap.

  25. 57km - The gap is continuing to fall. 2'35" is the latest split.

  26. 58km - Bouygues' Stef Clement has stopped bythe side of the road. He has a problem with his derailleur, and it letting one of his mechanics have a look at the bike.

  27. 65km - Eric Boyer, general manager of Cofidis: "It's difficult for a breakaway to keep going until the end of the stage. Yuo need a lot of riders working together for that to happen. As regards Sylvain [Chavanel], he is making progress with his climbing but is still not in the position to play a major role. I'd prefere him to target a stage victory. Last year, he had a bit of a cold in Montelimar, but I was pleased with his attitude."

  28. 67km - For all you stattos out there: Average speed over third hour of the stage was 42.2km/h, which brings the average speed of the stage up to 41.2km/h.

  29. 68km - Of the escapees, Rabobank man Juan Antonio Flecha is the only one to have won a stage of the Tour de France. His victory came in Toulouse in 2003. He celebrated his victory by doing an impression of an archer. The name Flecha means "arrow" in Spanish, as Bryan van den Bos points out.

  30. 70km - Flecha takes the 6 points and 6 bonus seconds at the second intermediate sprint of the day in Soligny-les-Etangs (Km 122.5) ahead of Chavanel (4 pts, 4 secs) and Knees (2pts, 2 secs).

  31. 75km - Yesterday's stage, the 236km trek from Waregem to Compiegne, had the slowest average speed of any stage in the Tour since 1947, at just 36km/h.

  32. 78km - The escapees are approaching the second intermediate sprint of the stage at Soligny-les-Etangs. Of the group, Sylvain Chavanel is best-placed in the general classification (23rd, 56 seconds behind Cancellara), followed by Sprick (53rd, at 1'08"), Verdugo (77th, at 1'14"), Flecha (98th, at 1'18") and Knees (102nd, at 1'20").

  33. 80km - The gap continues to increase very gradually. 3'45" is the latest split as the peloton enters the feeding zone.

  34. 90km - Bouygues Telecom general manager Jean-Rene Bernaudeau: "Since the start of the Tour we have had one strategy: to get involved in breakaways on stages which are winnable. Despite everything, the riders are super-motivated. They are pleased at having avoided all the crashes so far."

  35. 93km - Remy Di Gregorio, who went down in a fall earlier on, has called the Tour medical car. He's still suffering from some cuts and grazes that need treating.

  36. 94km - Things have brightened up a little since the beginning of the stage. The sun is blocked out by clouds, though there are patches of blue sky about. No rain, thank goodness.

  37. 95km - The gap has now stabilised at around the 3'20" mark, with things having settled down in the peloton.

  38. 109km - The leaders are extending their advantage again. It's back up to 3'15".

  39. 115km - The average speed over the second hour of racing is 40.7 km/h.

  40. 117km - Though the majority of the peloton are back together, a few riders are still off the back, including Matthieu Ladagnous and Rémy Di Gregorio .

  41. 119km - Xabier Zandio abandons! His race is over. That's a blow for the Caisse d'Epargne team of Alejandro Valverde.

  42. 120km - To reach David Harmon's message board, please copy and paste the following link into your browser: http://uk.messages.eurosport.yahoo.com/Cycling/Competitions/threadview?m=tm&bn=UKS-CY-Tour+de+France&tid=331&mid=-1&tof=1&frt=2

  43. 120km - The peloton is back together now and the breakaway has seen its lead whittled down to 1'45".

  44. 123km - Juan Antonio Flecha and Sylvain Chavanel fight it out for the sprint, and it's the Spaniard who takes it. He picks up the six points and six bonus seconds ahad of Chavanel, with Sprick taking third.

  45. 125km - To follow live audio commentary of the stage provided by our very own David Harmon, please copy and paste the following link into your browser: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/embedvideo.html?p=index#

  46. 127km - That fall has caused the peloton to split into three groups, the first of which is being led by the Liquigas, CSC and Gerolsteiner teams, who have upped the tempo.

  47. 130km - A fall toward the back of the peloton!! Remy Di Gregorio (Française des Jeux) and Nicolas Portal (Caisse d'Epargne) hit the tarmac, though they both seem okay to continue.

  48. 131km - Cofidis' Sylvain Chavanel passes the summit of the côte de Doucy first and takes the three points. Juan Antonio Flecha is next (two points) followed by Gorka Verdugo (one point).

  49. 137km - We're now approaching the second climb of the day, la côte de Doucy. It's another category four affair.

  50. 141km - The leaders' advantage grows to 3'30" as they approach Hondevilliers.

  51. 145km - Incidentally, a certain Lance Armstrong took his first ever stage victory on the Tour de France fourteen years ago to this day, outsprinting Raul Alcala, Ronan Pensec and Dominique Arnould in a breakaway group.

  52. 148km - The leaders are now three minutes clear of the pack, who are now being led by Caisse d'Epargne.

  53. 150km - The peloton seem to have given up trying to reel in the lead quintet, who have now extended their lead to 2'30".

  54. 152km - The average speed over the first hour of racing is 40.7 km/h.

  55. 154km - Carlström has been swallowed back up by the peloton, only for another rider to attack. This time it's Barloworld's Paolo Longo Borghini.

  56. 156km - Liquigas' Kjell Carlstrom is floating in between the breakaway and the field.

  57. 159km - Five riders have now escaped! Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis), Matthieu Sprick (Bouygues), Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel), Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) and Christian Knees (Milram) have a 30 second lead on the pack.

  58. 162km - Matthieu Sprick (Bouygues Télécom) now tries his luck with an escape attempt.

  59. 167km - A group of four riders tries an attack, though after just a couple of seconds they are swallowed back up by the peloton.

  60. 168km - That little flurry of activity sees David Millar move to within two points of Auge in the mountain classification.

  61. 170km - The Cofidis team is keen to help Stéphane Augé preserve his polkadot jersey, they are towing him up the climb, though two of Monday's escapees beat him there. Aliaksandr Kuschinski takes the three points, followed by David Millar (two points) and Stephane Auge (one point).

  62. 173km - No breakaways so far as the pack approaches the first climb of the day, the Veuilly-la-Poterie (Km 23.5, 4th cat.).

  63. 184km - Follow the progess of the peloton via our new live GPS system. Simply copy and paste the following link into your browser: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/cy/tdf/gps/index.html

  64. 185km - All remaining 187 riders started the stage today. Just two have been forced to abandon: Edu Gonzalez of the Agritubel team after a crash on stage one, and Tomas Vaitkus (Discovery Channel) after the massive pile-up at the end of stage two.

  65. 186km - Agritubel have been present in all three breakaways of the Tour so far. Will they make it four from four today?

  66. 186km - The peloton is still together 7 kilometres into the stage. No attacks as of yet.

  67. 193km - The skies are dark and grey again today, though brighter periods are forecast later on. It's also a little warmer than yesterday. Current temperature is 21 degrees.

  68. 12:00 - The start has been given on stage four of the Tour de France.

  69. 11:50 - The initial start has just been given, so we're on schedule for a 13:00 stage start.

  70. 10:30 - Tom Boonen is still in the green jersey. Indeed he extended his lead in the points competition yesterday to six over Robbie McEwen. Veteran sprinter Erik Zabel is third, 18 points back. There are three intermediate sprints today, after 69 kilomtres, 122.5 kilometres and 158.5 kilometres.

  71. 10:30 - Thanks to his break yesterday, Stephane Auge is now in the polkadot jersey, though that could well change hands with four fourth-category climbs on teh agenda today. 3, 2 and 1 points are available for the first three to cross each climb respectively.

  72. 10:30 - Thanks to his fantastic stage win yesterday, Fabian Cancellara has extended his overall lead in the general classification. He now leads by 33 seconds ahead of Andreas Kloeden, with David Millar in third, 41 seconds off the pace.

  73. 10:30 - Welcome to eurosport.yahoo.com's live text commentary of stage four of the Tour de France, a 190-kilometre trek from Villers Cotterêts to Joigny.