Danilo Hondo (Lampre) and Fabian Wegman (Milram) stay cool before the start in Cambrai.(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
Maxime Monfort gets ready for the stage.(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Bernard Eisel squeezes past Kristy Scrymgeour, the team's PR agent.(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Bernard Eisel (HTC-Columbia)(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto)(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto)(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
No!! Vladimir Karpets (Team Katusha) cut off his mullet!(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Fabian Cancellara is resplendent in yellow.(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Andy Schleck fields a reporter's questions.(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Riders sign in in Cambrai(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
The Quick Step riders sign in(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi)(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
The bike of Andy Schleck(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
There was bubbly of a different sort at the start.(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
The Haribo candy makers had a bubble maker to entertain.(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Greg LeMond depicted on banners in Cambrai.(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Lance Armstrong on the banner(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Miguel Indurain's banner(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Alberto Contador looking pensive on his flag.(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Eddy Merckx looking all the cannibal(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Maurice Garin(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Jacques Anquetil(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Fabian Cancellara's yellow bike.(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Fabian Wegmann and Danilo Hondo(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Riders enjoyed pleasant summer temperatures and sunny skies for their departure from Cambrai to Reims, heading out for the Tour de France's fourth stage. There were plenty of riders sporting bandages after the cobbled roads of stage 3 and the massive pile-up on the day before, so it was clear from the start that this would be a day for the sprinters.
However, the sprinters were well-represented amongst the injured: Tyler Farrar is riding with a fractured arm. "I hope to be able to sprint again by the second week of racing. I think I'll need a few more days to let the swelling go down and everything, before being competitive again," he said yesterday.
Robbie McEwen is also sporting a bandage on his arm, Mark Cavendish has hit the ground a few times but is the odds-on favourite for the flat run-in.
But Thor Hushovd, Cervelo's powerful sprinter, has the green jersey and the matching kit to go with it, and will look to take his second stage win of the Tour when the race negotiates the many roundabouts into the finish in Reims.
Enjoy this gallery from the start line in Cambrai.
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