Saugrain, however, was out to make his first Tour memorable, and he caught the Dutchman off-guard with his sprint.TOUR DE FRANCE Fourth stage (232km, Soissons to Lac de Madaine): 1 C Saugrain (Fr, Aubervilliers) 5hr 43min 50sec; 2 D Nelissen (Neth, Rabobank); 3 R Jaermann (Swit, MG Technogym); 4 S Heulot (France, GAN); 5 M Piccoli (It, Brescialat) all same time; 6 C Camin (It, Brescialat) +4:33; 7 E Magnin (Fr, Festina); 8 D Abdoujaparov (Uzbek, Refin); 9 A Piziks (Lith, Rabobank); 10 F Baldato (It, MG Technogym); 11 F Moncassin (Fr, GAN); 12 M Traversoni (It, Carrera); 13 M Cipollini (It, SAECO); 14 F Simon (Fr, GAN); 15 E Zabel (Ger, Deutsche Telekom); 16 V Fois (It, Panaria); 17 T Rominger (Swit, Mapei); 18 S Ouslamine (Rus, Refin); 19 B Hamburger (Den, TVM); 20 C Vasseur (Fr, GAN) all same time. Bjarne Riis, Denmark’s main contender, and Italy’s Mauro Bettin also fell in a tangle of men and machines. None was badly hurt.Heulot was then safe on the podium with an overall lead of 22sec over Italy’s Mariano Piccoli. This was further reward for his team manger, Roger Legeay, who ended Heulot’s months of waiting for an offer after leaving the Banesto team of Miguel Indurain because he wanted to race for a French team. He touched wheels and was flung in front of the Frenchman Laurent Brochard, who went head first over the fallen Czech.

Heulot, his compatriot Cyril Saugrain, the Dutchman Danny Nelissen, Rolf Jaermann of Switzerland, and Italy’s Mariano Piccoli arrived at the lakeside with a lead of 4min 33sec on the overnight leader, Moncassin, and contenders- in-waiting, such as Miguel Indurain.Ambition was still hot when the main field and riders began sprinting for sixth place, and the spare points left for high finishing, but Jan Svorada’s defence of his green points jersey came to grief. He was announced yesterday as one of five riders to represent France in the Olympic road events, and his team-mate Didier Rous was also named for Atlanta.Out on the road, Heulot and four others launched an unexpectedly successful escape after 35km of the 232km (145 miles) from Soissons to Lac de Madine. Frederic Moncassin, with a stage win at Den Bosch to his credit, accepted more back-slapping and hand-shaking yesterday despite losing the Tour leader’s yellow jersey.
He was unruffled as the colours had only crossed the hotel corridor to his team-mate Stephane Heulot, and Moncassin had something else to celebrate, even if he found himself 3min 45sec off the pace. Riders of their calibre, however, have to enjoy the headiness of the big occasion without resorting to the bubbly. A club spokesman, Dave Tyler, said he did not expect anything to be signed until Jones had slept on the offer.
The deal must be a substantial one – “It’s the one we have offered all our international players,” Tyler said – since Jones rejected a financial package with Harlequins in February after Swansea promised him a benefit next season.Jones had also been linked with Newcastle and South Africa’s Western Province, who had offered him a reputed pounds 180,000 for a full-time, two- year contract.

Bristol’s director of coaching, Alan Davies, had picked out Jones as the ideal replacement for the England scrum-half Kyran Bracken, who has left Bristol for Saracens.Wasps have lost out to their London neighbours, Harlequins, over the signing of lock Glyn Llewellyn, who has rejected a move to Sudbury for a more rewarding deal at The Stoop Quins apparently offered a third more than Wasps.. There was little time for sampling as the Tour de France felt the rolling lands of the Champagne region under its wheels, but Chris Boardman’s GAN team-mates had good reasons to call for a jeroboam later in their Metz hotel. The former British Lion Jones, 30, who plays for Swansea, was at the Memorial Ground yesterday for talks. Just over an hour earlier, two Britons who have had to settle for relay places in Atlanta established themselves as the fourth and fifth fastest Britons of all time. In a B race won by America’s Anthuan Maybank in 44.15, Mark Richardson was second in 44.52, and Jamie Baulch third in 44.57.Results, Sporting Digest, page 30. Bristol are poised to sign Wales’ most capped scrum-half, Robert Jones, on a two-year contract, with an option of a further two years.

That’s the key to this game.”I was leading after 300 metres and I was thinking, where the hell is he? I didn’t have to wait for long. When Michael Johnson is running it is a fact that there are always two races He is way ahead. But at least I won the second race.”It was another outstanding night for British 400m running following last month’s Olympic trials, which saw four home runners go under 45sec in a single race for the first time.Iwan Thomas, who has an individual place alongside Black in Atlanta, was sixth here in 44.71, a best for him at sea level. “It was still a good run to get so close to Allen considering he was coming off the back of 12.92,” Jackson said.Black’s time, which bettered the record he set in winning last month’s Olympic trials by 0.02sec, confirmed him as the leading British one-lap runner going into the Games.”I haven’t been feeling too good in myself so I’m surprised I’m running so fast,” Black said “But it’s good to be running 44’s consistently There can’t be much wrong with me if I’m running like that Consistency. Jackson succumbed to a stronger finish from the American 110m hurdles world champion, Allen Johnson, who came within 0.01sec of his world record of 12.91 last month.Johnson won in 13.08, but the Welshman, who has recently shaken off the worst effects of tendinitis in his knee, was relatively cheered by his performance in coming second in 13.13 despite what he described as “scrappy” hurdling.

It is becoming very clear that Christie’s decision to compete in Atlanta was not a simple one.Colin Jackson also had his Olympic ambitions put into perspective. Bailey eventually finished second in 9.93, with Boldon third in 9.94 and Jon Drummond fourth in 10.00.Christie’s immediate reaction was to smile ruefully and offer his applause to his friend, who was already cavorting towards the crowd firing imaginary pistols in the jubilant style of, well, Linford Christie.Britain’s Olympic champion finished his evening by finishing second to Boldon in a 200m which the Trinidadian won impressively in 19.85, despite easing down over the last 10 metres. Linford Christie, named as British Olympic captain alongside Gunnell, commented: “It’s such a shame for her, she was coming back so well.”Michael Johnson’s awesome sprinting form produced another record here in the 400m – not for himself, but for Roger Black, who lowered his own British mark to 44.37 as he strained in the Texan’s wake.Johnson, who broke the 24-year-old world 200m mark last month, began slowly and finished fast to win in 43.66, 0.37sec outside Butch Reynolds’s eight-year-old world mark.The world record which came closest to being broken was that for the 100m, where Frankie Fredericks recorded 9.86, just 0.01sec off the record Leroy Burrell set on the same track two years ago.Among those he defeated in a field assembled at a cost of $250,000, was the world champion, Donovan Bailey, and Fredericks’ sometime training partner Linford Christie, whose mind will have been concentrated wonderfully for the Olympic task ahead by finishing fifth in 10.04.But for the celebratory raising of his arms as he crossed the line, Fredericks, who had already recorded 9.87 this season, might have taken the 100m record. It was a shattering conclusion to a race where she hoped to re-establish herself as a medal contender.Did she, someone asked, expect to be able to go to Atlanta now “I bloody well hope so,” she said defiantly. But the strain on her face was painful to behold.Earlier this week Buford had claimed that the event was “passing Gunnell by”.