For once, Lance Armstrong took a back seat and acted as the perfect team mate to help Colombian Victor Hugo Pena make history as the first Colombian to lead the Tour de France on Wednesday.

The four-times Tour champion was second in the overall standings, one second behind Pena in a top eight that was made up entirely of U.S Postal riders.

The team, skippered by Armstrong, for a 69-km ride into a headwind, demolished the opposition to win the Tour's fourth stage in one hour 18 minutes and 27 seconds.

The American outfit, who had never won a team time trial before, beat Spanish team ONCE by 30 seconds while Bianchi, led by 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich of Germany, were third in 1" "This proves that Lance is also the best team mate in the world," said Pena, who leads his boss by a second in the overall standings.

Pena, who will be 29 on Thursday, succeeded where other famous Colombian riders such as Lucho Herrera or Fabio Parra had failed -- he took the race's yellow jersey.

"It's a dream that we Colombians have had for 20 years, since we had our first team on the Tour," Pena said.

"I remember the days when I was watching the Tour on television as a kid and I saw Bernard Hinault win time trials and I thought that one day I would do the same," he said.

Pena is an excellent rider, and will remain in the cycling record books, but the real star of the show remained Armstrong, who bids for a record-equalling fifth victory on this Tour.

BIG RELIEF

The American left an incredible impression of strength but said he had suffered a lot on a course made demanding by a strong wind.

"In the race, I did not feel so well. Not fluid. It was very difficult with a lot of headwind. The team time trial is a very, very difficult cycling discipline," the Texan said.

But he insisted the victory was a big relief for his team.

"For the last four years, we had been second or third and we felt a lot of frustration," he said.

Everything worked according to plan for the nine US Postal riders, who started slowly over the tricky first 10 kilometres and steadily increased pace to crush their rivals.

Pena, a time-trial specialist who had beaten Armstrong by one second in the prologue, knew he would take the lead if everything went well, and Armstrong pointed at him when they crossed the line all together.

"I'm the one who took the yellow jersey but it's a team victory and this is the best cycling team there ever was," said Pena, who had been the first Colombian to win a time trial on the Giro d'Italia two years ago.

At the end of the stage, the US Postal riders hugged each other and shouted in joy.

The win was also a fine way for Armstrong to show that cycling is not just an individual sport and to thank his team mates for four years of devoted service.

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