Check out the latest Behind the lines at the Tour de France stage four.

Check out the photos from Stage 4 of the Tour de France.

Tour de France
Stage 4: Cambrai to Reims, 153.5km/95mi
By Cathy Mehl

No stage is easy in the Tour de France, but today’s shorter stage was a welcome relief from the stress of the previous two days.   On the first pure sprinter’s stage the fast men of the sport barged and battled for position to get to the tape first.  HTC-Columbia put their men on the front and seized control to stretch out the peloton on the city streets of Reims, but their man Mark Cavendish waited too long to begin his sprint when Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) came along the barriers to claim his165th career and second stage in this year’s Tour.  Second place went to Julian Dean (Garmin) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) took third.  There was no change overall with Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) holding tight to the maillot jaune with 23 seconds over Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and thirty-nine seconds to world champion Cadel Evans (BMC).  Team RadioShack’s best-placed rider remains Lance Armstrong in 18th place at 2:30 behind Cancellara.

Plain Stage
Wed, July 7—starts at 1350 local time

About Stage 4
By Chris Brewer
Today’s stage is what is referred to as an up-and-down one.  While there is just one “easy” rated climb, there are very few flat sections, either.  If the riders decide to make it a hard day, and they usually do, there will be a lot of tired legs and potentially many support riders dropped on the way to Reims.  Still expect a bunch sprint from the top fast men in the peloton.