16:29 - Armstrong brings Astana throught he final few hundred metres...can Arsmtrong snatch the yellow jersey??? It's 40 seconds exactly!!! It'll come down to hundredths of seconds!!

16:23 - Cavendish brings Columbia through the final few bends...they stop the clock 41" off Garmin's pace - good enough for 4th position.

16:20 - Columbia now come under the 3-kilometre barrier, though their tempo is noticeably lower than that of Garmin. There will be no repeat of their success in the Giro.

16:17 - Armstrong out of the saddle as he pulls his Astana team up a climb.

16:15 - Columbia go through the 3rd time check in 4th position, 40 seconds off Garmin's pace. Cavendish is still pulling hard on the front.

16:13 - Saxo Bank go under the 3km barrier, can Cancellara come up with a big pull to keep his yellow jersey?

16:09 - Garmin stop the clock 40 seconds quicker than Liquigas - a quite superb demonstration of power by Zabriskie, Wiggins, Millar, Hesjedal and Vande Velde!!!

16:05 - The crosswinds are really making themselves felt as Saxo Bank are being blown all over the road! Almost a big crash on the back, narrowly avoided!

16:04 - The latter teams have possibly benefitted from information passed to them about the nature of the course, particularly the bend that took Menchov and Fernandez and others down.

16:01 - Garmin are through 31 seconds faster than Liquigas at the third intermediate check!!! There may be only five of them, but they are absolutely flying!!

15:58 - Astana are second quickest behind Caisse d'Epargne at the first time-check!! They clock the same time as Garmin.

15:55 - Saxo Bank now approach the first time-check...26'05" is the time - that's 14 seconds down on Garmin.

15:44 - Just five men finish for Milram, they roll in ninth-fastest.

15:41 - Garmin have lost yet another two riders!!! Julian Dean has gone! Well, as long as the remaining five have enough power to finish (which they may well have) they might be ok, but they're cutting it fine! I think Martin Maaskant is the other rider to have been dropped, though we didn't see it on the screen.

15:37 - Bert Grabsch is at the back in his world time-trial champion's jersey. A flatter parcours would suit him, but the likes of Rogers and Monfort should excel.

15:36 - Cervelo arrive at the finish...they're not going to challenge Katusha, but finish 3rd - just 15 seconds down. Not a bad run from them.

15:32 - No complaints about the course from Bouygues' Thomas Voeckler - one of their four riders to crash on a right-hand bend. "It's a difficult course, but you just have to adapt to it," he said. What a refreshing attitude from the Frenchman.

15:30 - Saxo Bank take the start now! The team of yellow jersey-wearer Fabian Cancellara! He's wearing yellow now, but will he be wearing yellow at the end of this time-trial?

15:25 - A quick reminder of the top five thus far at the finish: 1 Katusha; 2 Caisse d'Epargne @ 6"; 3 Ag2r @ 25"; 4 Rabobank @ 57"; 5 Silence-Lotto @ 1'12".

15:23 - Garmin-Slipstream power away! This is the first of the real big favourites to go! On a striahgt, flat course not many can match their power, though how will they cope with the tight corners and narrow roads of the first half?

15:20 - The Cervélo team power through the mdiway check-point 22 seconds off Caisse d'Epargne's pace. Not bad from Sastre's men.

15:17 - Peter Wrolich, a victim of a fall earlier, has been dropped by his Milram team.

15:14 - Caisse d'Epargne's José Ivan Gutierrez - a former Spanish time-trial champion - was particularly critical of the technical nature of this course. "It's not normal," he said. "But thankfully, we did a good time-trial."

15:10 - Euskaltel roll away off the start ramp.

15:08 - FdJ finish 5th fastest, 1'22" back. That will suit them just fine.

15:04 - It appears Peter Wrolich and Niki Terpstra have hit the deck! We haven't seen it on our screens, but their Lycra all-in-one suits are ripped.

15:00 - My apologies to Johan van Summeren - he had a technical problem, and was not dropped as simply as I suggested. To be fair, it would have been a surprise if a rider as big and strong as him was dropped on a TTT.

14:55 - Silence-Lotto are down to six men now as Johan van Summeren has been dropped. The big Belgian clearly is lacking the form he showed at Paris-Roubaix earlier this year.

14:52 - Staf Schierlinkx has fallen off the back of the Silence-Lotto train. They're already lost Jurgen van den Broeck, so more bad news for Cadel Evans on a stage he will have been pretty apprehensive about.

14:50 - Katusha's time is looking better and better. Bouygues - who admittedly had an absolute nightmare out there - cross the lnie 3'18" down on their Russian counterparts.

14:46 - Cervelo now power away off the start ramp! How will Carlos Sastre's men do? They may not be among the favourites, so the likes of Hayden Roulston and Volodymir Gustov will need to do some serious pulling.

14:37 - Cadel Evans' Silence-Lotto team are underway. We have talked a lot about the strength of this team, and this is certainly one of the stages where they will be vulnerable - and Jurgen Van den Broeck has hit the deck!!!! He simply rode up the rear wheel of the man in front of him! They don't have the power of the likes of Saxo Bank or Astana, so MUST avoid these crashes.

14:33 - Rabobank now cross the finish line a massive 57 seconds down on Katusha! That may not seem a lot, but the likes of Saxo Bank and Astana are going to be a lot quicker than Katusha. Denis Menchov's Tour hopes are disappearing, and we haven't so much as crossed a hump-backed bridge.

14:30 - Changing the topic slightly, Swiss authorities the next to be on Jan Ullrich's case, confirming that he will face charges for his links to the Puerto scandal. Will this eternal saga never end? Full story here

14:25 - Katusha hit the home straight and are down to six menÂ…but nevertheless they stop the clock in 47'52" - that's 6 seconds quicker than Caisse d'Epargne.

14:22 - Four riders crash in the Bouygues train!!! A real disaster for them!!! William Bonnet is down, as is Pierre Rolland! Chaos! It looks like Arashiro is down too!

14:18 - Caisse d'Epargne are through and cross the finish line in 47'58"! They only lost one man along the way.

14:16 - Lefevre is back on now. His bike change was pretty rapid.

14:11 - Meanwhile Ag2r have rolled off the start ramp a few minutes ago, and Skil-Shimano are just getting their run started now.

14:10 - A few of these riders who fall off the back early will need to fight for their lives to stay in. Anyone outside of 25% of the WINNING time is eliminated. Napolitano must be nervous.

14:09 - For a quick reminder of the standings in the general classification... click here

14:03 - Katusha (minus Napolitano) are approaching the time check at 19.5km...and they're 10 seconds down on Caisse d'Epargne.

14:02 - The Tour de France is LIVE NOW on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521) and is also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player: click here to subscribe

13:58 - BBox Bouygues Telecom are off now - Tommy Voeckler leads them off the ramp.

13:53 - World road race champion Alessandro Ballan falls at the same corner as Menchov!! Lampre suffer a blow early on too!

13:49 - Well, the two moments of drama we have already had indicate that one or two teams could lose some serious time today. Don't forget, there are no silly rules about certain placings guaranteeing you certain amounts of time. The time your fifth man finishes is the time everyone gets. Simple as that.

13:46 - Menchov falls on a left-hand turn!!!! Disaster for Rabobank! We know he's far from the best bike-handler in the world, but he really is on a bad run. The rest of his team had to wait for him, and will have lost 20 seconds easily.

13:43 - Could there be more glory for Cav today? Obviously he's not going to be winning any sprints, but his COlumbia team start as one of the favourites for this TTT. He was full of praise for his team-mates efforts yesterday. Click the link below to hear his thoughts on the all-important break, and the sprint. Cav on Columbia

13:39 - Katusha will be looking to Karpets, Botcharov and Ivanov to do a lot of work on the front, though a place in the top half would be a good result for them today.

13:35 - This is a pretty difficult, technical course for a team time-trial, especially over the first half of the course. Close riding and organisation will be key. After that, it's a largely downhill course on wider, straighter roads, when the likes of Columbia, Garmin and Astana will look to show their power.

13:00 - Start Times: 13:30 Caisse d'Epargne; 13:37 Katusha; 13:44 Rabobank; 13:51 Lampre; 13:58 Bouygues; 14:05 AG2R; 14:12 Skil-Shimano; 14:19 Francaise des Jeux; 14:26 Agritubel; 14:33 Silence-Lotto; 14:40 Quick Step; 14:47 Cervelo; 14:54 Milram; 15:01 Liquigas; 15:08 Euskaltel; 15:15 Cofidis; 15:22 Garmin; 15:29 Saxo Bank; 15:36 Columbia-HTC; 15:43 Astana

12:00 - Their outstanding performance in the third stage to La Grande Motte made Team Columbia another outfit to watch, especially as they won similar stages on the Giro and Tour de Romandie. A victory could put young German Tony Martin, currently 33 seconds behind Cancellara, in the spotlight.

11:00 - For the first time since his last Tour de France triumph in 2005, Lance Armstrong is perfectly placed to reclaim the leader's yellow jersey in today's 38km team time trial in Montpellier. "Never say never," the seven-times winner said following Monday's third stage in which he climbed to third place overall after joining a decisive move led by the Columbia team.