seconds behind the winner in yesterday's fourth stage of the women's Tour de France -- an 87 kilometre race through the Languedoc Tousillon region of France.

Having suffered on a mountain climb a day earlier and forced to ride 133 kilometres on her own, Bermudian Claude bounced back remarkably well and is now in 108th position overall from a starting field of 118.

Her main goal is to complete the Tour. And while she only managed to improve one place overall yesterday, she made up valuable time on several riders who were dropped by the peloton.

Claude, riding for the Canada-Espagne team, finished in the main pack in 99th position in a time of two hours, eight minutes and 35 seconds.

Husband Paul Claude, who spoke to Melanie last night, said: "Her strategy for today's event worked to a tee as she stayed with the peloton until the final sprint where she stayed away from the main group to avoid any disaster.'' Today's fifth stage will be a 155 kilometre race going up the Col de Fontiroide, a category three mountain climb similar to the one Claude encountered on Monday.

Yesterday's winner was Gabriella Pregnolato of the GAS Sport team, who finished in two hours, eight minutes and one second.

But retaining the leader's yellow jersey was Mirjam Melchers of Pays Bas who is 35 seconds ahead of her nearest rival.