Laurent Jalabert won a sprint finish to claim the fourth stage of the Tour de France in Verdun and narrowly missed out on taking the yellow jersey.

Stuart O'Grady of the Credit Agricole team held on to the race lead after the Australian finished at the head of the chasing peloton in eighth.

The stage victory completed a remarkable comeback for Jalabert who fell off a ladder and broke three ribs in February.

"It's a lesson in courage," he said. "I never gave up. I started from very low and I have had a lot of doubts recently."

The Frenchman, riding for the CSC Tiscali team, attacked with 25km to go and was joined by Francisco Mancebo of Spain and Belgium's Ludo Dierckxsens, as race leader Stuart O'Grady and favourite Lance Armstrong were left well behind in the peloton.

Gap closed

After starting the stage just 45 seconds behind O'Grady, at one stage Jalabert and the leading group of three were over one minute clear of the chasing pack.

Mancebo dropped back on the final ascent but by the time the Frenchman outsprinted Dierckxsens to take the stage, the peloton had closed to within seven seconds.

Armstrong finished in the main pack and now lies seventh overall in the race.

British rider David Millar, still struggling after a fall in the opening prologue, finished in a large group over 18 minutes behind the stage winner.

The Cofidis cyclist is still last overall over 40 minutes behind his friend and leader O'Grady and is the first British rider in the dubious lantern rouge since 1985.

Erik Zabel, the leader of the points category and the winner of two stages so far, was also in that group and has dropped from eighth to 92nd on general classification.

Stage 4, Huy-Verdun (215km):

1. Laurent Jalabert (Fra/CST) 5hr 17 min 49sec
2. Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel/LAM) same time
3. Damien Nazon (Fra/BJR) at 00:07sec
4. Fred Rodriguez (Usa/DFF) same time
5. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita/FAS) s/t
6. Sven Teutenberg (Ger/FES) s/t
7. Robert Hunter (Rsa/LAM) s/t
8. Stuart O'Grady (Aus/C.A) s/t
9. Paul Van Hyfte (Bel/LOT) s/t
10. S�bastien Talabardon (Fra/BIG) s/t

Overall classification after stage 4:

1. Stuart O'Grady (Aus/C.A) 19hr 32min 49sec
2. Laurent Jalabert (Fra/CST) at 00:18sec
3. Christophe Moreau (Fra/FES) 00:23
4. Jens Voigt (Ger/C.A) 00:26
5. Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Spa/ONC) 00:26
6. Bobby Julich (Usa/C.A) 00:27
7. Lance Armstrong (Usa/USP) 00:27
8. Jan Ullrich (Ger/TEL) 00:30
9. Florent Brard (Fra/FES) 00:30
10. Santiago Botero (Col/KEL) 00:33