"Last year I didn't enjoy the pavé, because I was in the breakaway. This year I was at the front and this year I enjoyed the pavé."

Those were the words of Astana's Rein Taaramäe after stage four at the Tour de France. Taaramäe found himself at the end of the stage on Tuesday with teammates Lars Boom, Dmitriy Gruzdev and Jakob Fuglsang all working for team leader Vincenzo Nibali to reduce the number of riders at the front of the race.

An unlucky flat tire eliminated Boom from the leaders in the final 40km, but Taaramäe and Gruzdev both quickly came to Nibali's side to set a high pace and keep other teams from riding in front. Nibali finished the day 3 seconds behind solo stage winner Tony Martin of Germany, who also took the leader's Yellow Jersey with 17 stages remaining.

Early work by Lieuwe Westra in a 4-man breakaway reduced the pressure on Astana over the first 150km of a long, dusty day, and when the cobblestones began Andrei Grivko spent his energy guiding the team safely through narrow and dangerous roads.

Overall Nibali remains 13th in General Classification, 1:50 behind Martin. Nibali also won the Most Combative Rider award for stage four, and will wear a special red number on his jersey during Wednesday's stage five. More importantly, Nibali gained time on French rider Thibault Pinot, who finished 3rd overall in the 2014 Tour de France.

The 2014 Tour de France champion lost no time to important rivals ahead of five more days of difficult racing before the first rest day next Monday.

"We haven't changed anything compared to last year, only the weather has changed," he said. "On the last slightly uphill pavé section, I've tried to break the group hoping that someone would get dropped. It was a very difficult race. At the end we were all the favorites together and we managed to handle the stress of such a specific stage.

"I've received a great support from the team. But it was dry, so it was less dangerous than last year and it wasn't possible to create difference because we were riding in only one direction. So the maximum effect of the accelerations at the front was to put the whole group in one lane. I couldn't do any more.

"I'm satisfied to not lose more time today. After those first few stages, I feel physically well. I have a deficit to recover and I'll try every time there'll be an occasion."