BRITAIN'S Chris Boardman's blistering break electrified Brighton as he

finished fourth in yesterday's British stage of the Tour de France.

The early Tour leader's unexpected late move was not enough to regain

the coveted yellow jersey for him, but it delighted the thousands who

lined the streets.

Spain's Francisco Cabello took the 128-mile stage from Dover to

Brighton -- the first to be held in Britain for 20 years.

The Kelme team man led for most of the way for his first-ever stage

victory. Emmaneul Magnien of France pushed hard but had to settle for

second place.

But it was third-placed Italian Flavio Vanzella who took over the

leader's jersey from his GB-MG team-mate Johan Museeuw.

Boardman's performance lifted him from twentieth place to seventeenth,

going into today's final stage in Britain -- 53 seconds off the lead.

Afterwards, Boardman said: ''I just had to do something for the

crowds. They were great.

''My only chance was near the end when I realised that others would be

suffering the effects of the pace.''

Overall placings:

1, F Vanzella (Italy), GB MG, 17hr 34min 06sec; 2, J Museeuw

(Belgium), GB MG, at 4sec; 3, M Indurain (Spain) Banesto 14, 4 R

Sorensen (Denmark) GB MG 23, 5 L Armstrong (US) Motorola 26, 6 S Bauer

(Canada) Motorola 31, 7 A de las Cuevas (France) Castorama 32, 8 T Marie

(France) Castorama 37, 9 S Yates (GB) Motorola 38, 10 Tony Rominger

(Switzerland) Mapei Clas 42, 11 F Andreu (US) Motorola 43, 12 T Davy

(France) Castorama same time, 13 J-F Bernard (France) Banesto 44, 14 M

Mauri (Spain) Banesto 45, 15 Franco Vona (Italy) GB MG 51, 16 M Alonso

(Spain) Banesto 53, 17 C Boardman (GB) GAN, same time, 18 P Anderson

(Australia) Motorola 54, 19 L Desbiens (France) Castorama 57, 20 A Olano

(Spain)

Kelme 1:00.