Armstrong split second off the lead

MONTPELLIER, France – Calling his team “simply awesome,” Lance Armstrong was nearly decked out in yellow again.

The seven-time champion surged from third place to second at the Tour de France on Tuesday after his Astana squad won a team time trial in a dramatic finish.

Armstrong erased all but a sliver of his 40-second deficit to leader Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland in the fourth stage. The only thing separating him from the yellow jersey is a fraction of a second.

The performance was reminiscent of Armstrong’s dominance in the team time trial for the last three years of his string of victories from 1999 to 2005. This is his comeback year at the Tour after 31/2 years of retirement.

The 37-year-old Texan plotted strategy with star teammate Alberto Contador before the stage to weed out potential rivals.

Armstrong and Cancellara share an overall time of 10 hours, 38 minutes, 7 seconds, although the Swiss rider was deemed a fraction ahead.

“This is a long race, maybe there’s one (yellow jersey) in my future,” said Armstrong afterward.

The potential rivalry between Armstrong and Contador, the Spaniard who won in 2007, has become a major subtext to the race.

They shelved any such rivalry Tuesday. Armstrong said he appealed to Contador before the race to work together to distance other contenders.

“My point was to Alberto, ‘Look, let’s ride perfect, and make this race almost impossible to win for others,’ ” he said. “I think we can say that we accomplished that.”