Marcel Kittel burst back into the limelight when the German snatched his ninth Tour de France stage win on Tuesday, prevailing in a tough bunch sprint.
The Etixx-Quick Step rider, who had a disappointing start to the Tour and missed last year's race following a virus, held off the late charge of Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie), beating the Frenchman by less than a tyre's length.
Slovak Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) was third and retained the overall leader's yellow jersey at the end of the fourth stage, at 237.5km the longest in this year's race.
Frenchman Julian Alaphillipe (Etixx-Quick Step) is in second place, 12 seconds off the pace, with a decent chance of claiming yellow in Wednesday's fifth stage, a 216km trek in the Massif Central mountains.
"There is a lot of emotion. I had to fight to come back, I had a tough start to the season but the goal has always been the Tour de France," said Kittel.
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"The plan was to take the yellow jersey after the first stage but that did not go as expected."
Australia's Richie Porte, riding for Racing, improved six places to be 71st in the general classification, 2:03 minutes behind Sagan.
He is expected to be among the contenders for the fifth stage as the climbers will come into their own for the first time this year.
"At least we didn't go as slow as yesterday, but it's another one ticked off and I'm looking forward to getting to the climbs tomorrow," Porte said.
"We have done the recon on tomorrow's stage and there are a couple of nasty climbs in there.
"But also the run in is a nasty, technical downhill so that could play a part in it too.
"There's a bit of a kick to the finish so for sure the last 40 kilometres are really going to trim the field a little bit which is a good thing.
"It wont be so hectic as it has been."
Kittel suffered a virus that plagued his 2015 season and his Giant-Alpecin team omitted him from the Tour roster, prompting the 28-year-old to sign for Etixx-Quick Step who were looking for a replacement for the departing Mark Cavendish.
Kittel failed to beat Mark Cavendish in the massive sprint in the opening stage last Saturday, and came home a mediocre seventh on Monday, which suggested he was struggling for form.
On Tuesday, the German was perfectly led out by his team and, although the final straight was slightly uphill, he never looked back, raising his arms to celebrate a few minutes after crossing the line as he and Coquard waited for the photo finish.
