Armstrong takes lead as Zabriskie crashes

Lance Armstrong seized the Tour de France yellow jersey in dramatic fashion yesterday when his Discovery Channel team won the fourth stage ahead of the CSC outfit of previous leader David Zabriskie, who crashed near the finish.

Armstrong's team-mates, who won the team time trial last year, dominated the 67.5 km fourth stage between Tours and Blois, clocking one hour, 10 minutes and 39 seconds at an astounding average speed of 57.31 kph, the fastest in a Tour.

Helped by a strong tailwind, the Texan and his partners beat the CSC team of yellow jersey holder Zabriskie by two seconds - exactly the lead the Salt Lake City rider had held over Armstrong at the start.

Had he finished with his team, Zabriskie would probably have stayed in top spot but the 26-year-old American, winner of the opening individual time trial on Saturday, crashed on a steep turn 1,200 metres from the line.

His team-mates were forced to leave him behind and finish without him. Had the incident occurred in the last kilometre, Zabriskie would have been given the same time as his CSC mates.

German team T-Mobile, led by 1997 Tour champion Jan Ullrich, were third in 1:11:14.

"It was a very tight battle. We saw that CSC were faster than us in the first part and I asked the guys to stick together," said Discovery Channel team director Johan Bruyneel.

"I think that's what made the difference - we finished together as a fine riding machine."

Armstrong now leads team-mate George Hincapie by 55 seconds in the overall classification.

Zabriskie, who finished the stage with his yellow jersey torn and cuts on his arms and legs, dropped to ninth, 1:26 adrift of Armstrong.

The fastest average speed previously recorded was 55.152 kph by Briton Chris Boardman in the 1994 prologue but over the much shorter distance of 7.2 km.