In a time trial that looked made for the specialists against the clock, Stefan Schumacher surprised the field, posting a time of 35'44" to take Stage 4 in Cholet. Schumacher had 18 seconds to spare on the ever consistent Kim Kirchen who again finished a heartbreaking second after finishing fourth and second on the opening two days of this years tour. At least he will have the solace of increasing his lead in the points competition . Fabian Cancellera, the hot favourite for the day's stage, will be slightly disappointed with his effort, finishing over 30 seconds back in 5th. With yellow-jersey wearer Roman Feillu losing almost 5 minutes back in 169th place, Schumacher becomes the 3rd man to wear the yellow jersey in just 4 days (bravo to the route organisers!), leading the GC by 12 seconds from Kirchen, and David Millar after the British time trial specialist finished 3rd on the days stage.
The TT was the first real shake-up of the General Classification and the big winner on the day was the favourite for the overall title, Australia's Cadel Evans. Evans will be pleased with his 4th placing on the stage (27 seconds behind Schumacher), given that he put time into all his rivals. The likes of Denis Menchov (7 seconds), Damiano Cunego (59 seconds), Alejandro Valverde (67 seconds), and Carlos Sastre (76 seconds) will all now have to make up time on Evans in the mountains. Valverde must be especially disappointed with his performance given his excellent time trial exploits at the Dauphine. Perhaps his mental fragility is starting to show even after only 4 days of this years tour. Stijn Devolder, an outsider for the title was 51 seconds behind Evans, but did suffer the inconvenience of a bike change mid race. If Evans can put this kind of gap over his main rivals over 29km, the gaps in the second time trial (almost twice as long) in the tour's third week are likely to be very concerning for the climbers.
If anything, today's TT will make for a more exciting tour for the neutral. It seems the likes of Cunego, Valverde, and Sastre will have to attack Evans hard in the mountains in order to make up for the ground they are obviously going to lose in the races against the clock. I have to admit I underestimated Evans time-trial superiority over the rest of the GC contenders, and given today's result he now has to be the clear favourite to take the overall title. Menchov also comes into closer consideration if he can reproduce the mountain climbing skills that saw him win the first high-mountain stage of the 2006 edition. Classics specialist Devolder has also showed he has the ability to hang with the big boys, and if he can prove himself an erstwhile climber in the mountains a podium finish is definietly in reach.
Feillu's collapse has also seen him lose his lead in the White Jersey competition. This passes to Swede Thomas Lovkvist who impressively finished just outside the top 10 on the days stage. With no mountains points available for the second straight day the King of the Mountains competition remains sidelined. The first real shake up for the polka dot jersey is likely to come on Thursday night's stage to Super Besse.
Yellow Jersey - Stefan Schumacher
Green Jersey - Kim Kirchen
Polka Dot Jersey - Thomas Voeckler
White Jersey - Thomas Lovkvist
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