Stage 4: Montpellier-Montpellier; TTT; 39km

Lance Armstrong is back. With today's expected crushing of the TTT, Armstrong moved up into a virtual tie for the overall lead as Astana powered their way through the course and knocked many of the overall contenders out of contention. With no minimum time loss being imposed by director Christian Prudhomme, many of Astana's rivals lost massive time and are now 3 minutes in arrears of Armstrong and Contador. The last 5km was all Armstrong as he pulled for the yellow jersey, only to fall 22/100 of a second short. I believe it is clear now that, even if he not the strongest man in this year's tour or even on Astana, he is here to win if he can. Fabian Cancellara has held on to his virtual zero second lead, but the mountains loom on Friday and he certainly will not be in yellow after that day. For team Astana, Friday may separate the men from the boys in the pecking order of the team. Team Astana now holds 2nd-5th in the GC, all but assuring that one of their riders will win this year's TDF. Tomorrow's stage 5 and Thursday's stage 6 are for the sprinters again. I am now convinced Cavendish may win every flat stage this year as no one has been able to touch him in the first 2 flat stages, which ultimately resulted in 2 Cavendish wins. The next 2 days will be good recovery days for Lance and team Astana, if u can call 200km recovery. The real test of the Pyrenees is on the horizon. Who will pass? Until then.