Just one day after they used their combined strength to put Euskaltel Euskadi leader Iban Mayo four minutes behind in the overall standings, the US Postal Service again showed their collective power by winning a wet and sloppy team time trial this afternoon.

With a finishing time over one minute ahead of the second placed Phonak squad, and 1:19 faster than Jan Ullrich’s T-Mobile team, Stage 4 could have opened up significant time gaps between the favorites for the yellow jersey. Instead, the new regulations governing the Tour de France team time trial reduced those time gaps to just 20 seconds over Phonak and 40 seconds over T-Mobile. Even so, the US Postal Service’s strong ride put Lance Armstrong into the yellow jersey with 36 seconds in hand to Tyler Hamilton and 55 seconds to Ullrich.

The new team time trial regulations put increased importance on where you placed in the stage as opposed to how much time you actually lost. Finishing fourth, for instance, set the maximum time loss at 40 seconds, though T-Mobile could have lost less than 40 seconds with their fourth place finish if they had crossed the line less than 40 seconds slower than the winning time. The T-Mobile team lost 1:19 to US Postal, and since that was greater than the maximum 40-second loss for fourth place, Jan Ullrich only lost 40 seconds to Lance Armstrong in the overall standings.

It’s too bad the CSC team had so many problems during Stage 4, including a crash that took down three riders and at least one flat tire. They ended up finishing less than 30 seconds slower than T-Mobile, and would have likely beaten Ullrich’s team had it not been for their misfortunes. This would have pushed T-Mobile to fifth place and increased the time gap between Ullrich and Armstrong by an additional 10 seconds.

The most surprising ride of the day was put in by the Phonak squad. I expected them to do very well, and they lived up to everyone’s expectations, but it’s absolutely amazing they did so well after the mishaps they suffered. First the team had to slow down to wait for Oscar Pereiro, and then by the time we saw them pass through the final checkpoint, they were down to just five riders. Having the maximum number of teammates possible in the final 15 kilometers of a team time trial is a very important part of keeping the pace high, so to place second in today’s stage with just five riders to share the work of the final 15 kilometers is a spectacular display of strength and fortitude.

With the mountains still several days away, the US Postal Service is not going to be super-motivated to hold onto the yellow jersey. Lance will be keeping his eyes on his main rivals for the remainder of the flat stages. We may see a breakaway gain just enough time to transfer the jersey onto another man’s back, perhaps someone like Jens Voigt who is only 43 seconds behind but not a threat to the overall contenders. The sprinters’ teams, however, may spoil Voigt’s plan if they make the effort to set the stage for their speedsters.