REIMS, France — After enduring early bad luck in his bid for an eighth Tour de France title, Lance Armstrong is now banking on experience and mental strength.

He knows that fortunes can change quickly in cycling's toughest event.

One day after a punctured tire cost him valuable time to his rivals — defending champion Alberto Contador of Spain and Andy Schleck of Luxembourg — the 38-year-old Armstrong had a quieter day, on the saddle at least, in Wednesday's fourth stage.

"Nothing to report. There was no wind, so, it's really an easy stage," was the brief summary from Armstrong's RadioShack team manager Johan Bruyneel.

But Bruyneel's words carried a heavy tinge of relief following the carnage that turned the Tour's opening few days into a crash-marred frenzy.

"Days like yesterday are so extreme there's nothing you can do," Armstrong said after completing Wednesday's stage drenched in sweat due to the sweltering heat. "I didn't want to have a third day in a row of bad luck, so ... nice that everybody stayed up (on their bikes)."

Another veteran, Italy's Alessandro Petacchi, won the stage.

Armstrong has little choice but to bide his time now, considering his position compared to other Tour contenders.

Although race leader Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland and second-place Geraint Thomas of Britain are expected to wilt in the French Alps on Sunday, Contador, Schleck and two-time Tour runner-up Cadel Evans of Australia all are ahead of Armstrong.

Evans is third, 39 seconds behind Cancellara, Schleck is sixth, 1:09 back, Contador ninth, 1:40 back, while Armstrong sits in 18th, 2:30 behind. It is an unfamiliar position for the American, considering how he dominated most of his seven straight Tour wins from 1999-2005.

But Armstrong has been around long enough not to get fazed by early setbacks, and long enough to know when to apply psychological pressure on his challengers.

"I think now you just got to pick up a few guys and focus on them ... it's easy to look at the GC (overall standings) and say, 'Gosh, there's 17 guys ahead of you,"' Armstrong said. "But for the most part the vast majority of them won't be there (at the end)."

Bruyneel, Armstrong's architect of those seven Tour wins, joined in the mind games by targeting Schleck — one of two brothers who usually compete in the race.

The other, Frank Schleck, had to pull out because of a broken left collarbone following a crash on Tuesday. Bruyneel suspects that might weaken his brother mentally.

"There's pros and cons, Andy Shleck got a lot of time but he loses his brother," Bruyneel said. "You don't know what the biggest advantage will be at the end, the two minutes or the help of his brother in the mountains.

"We lose time, but fortunately no one is injured. That's a good thing to remember."