Lance Armstrong and his US Postal team stamped their authority on the Tour de France after dominating the team time trial held over 64.5km between Cambrai and Arras.

The win, in 1 hour 12 minutes 03 seconds, allowed five-time winner Armstrong to pull on the yellow jersey for the first time in the race.

The fourth stage of the Tour was held in rainy conditions, which led to several crashes and threatened to decimate Tyler Hamilton's Phonak team who claimed an admirable second place at 1.07secs with six of their nine riders.

The Iles Baleares team finished third at 1.15 with Jan Ullrich's T-Mobile team finishing in fourth.

It means that US Postal, who also lost a rider during the race, now occupy all eight first places in the general classification.

Phonak team leader Hamilton is Armstrong's closest rival, in eighth place at 36secs adrift.

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