JOIGNY, France — Norway’s Thor Hushovd sprinted to victory Wednesday in the fourth stage, and Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara ended the day, for the fifth straight day, in the yellow jersey of the Tour de France leader.

Hushovd triumphed at the end of the mostly flat 119.9-mile ride from Villers-Cotterets to Joigny. “Everything took place superbly well,” said Hushovd, who overcame an upset stomach to finish in 4 hours, 37 minutes, 47 seconds for his fifth Tour stage win. “I’m too happy.”

“I was sure my form wasn’t too bad,” said Hushovd, adding he wasn’t at his best after Monday’s crash.

Robert Hunter of South Africa was second, and Oscar Freire of Spain was third. They and the main group of riders, which included Cancellara, who finished with the same time as Hushovd. Cancellara is the only rider to wear the race leader’s yellow jersey this year. He won the prologue and the third stage but lost four seconds from his overall lead yesterday, cutting it to 29 seconds. Hushovd, who won the green jersey awarded to the Tour’s best sprinter in 2005, trimmed 20 seconds off his overall time, climbing from ninth to second. Andreas Kloeden of Germany dropped to third, 33 seconds behind.

After a string of mostly flat stages, the race veers into several hilly patches for today’s 113.4-mile trek from the Burgundy town of Chablis to Autun featuring eight medium-grade climbs.

Bold breakaway riders are expected to take the spotlight in the three-week race, before climbers emerge for three days in the Alps starting Saturday.

“Someone’s really going to have some guts to go for it tomorrow. … People are going to be biding their time thinking about (the Alps),” said American Christian Vandevelde.

When the Tour hits heads into the mountains this weekend, the overall favorites likely will make their moves. Few can be ruled out yet: 160 riders are within two minutes of Cancellara.

Still, he knows he won’t be wearing yellow for much longer.

“For me, when I get into the mountains, it’s sure that it’s finished,” Cancellara said.