July 3, 2011 -- Updated 1735 GMT (0135 HKT)
Thor Hushovd swaps the polka dot jersey for the yellow jersey after guiding Garmin to victory in the Tour team time-trial.
(CNN) -- World champion Thor Hushovd is the new leader of the Tour de France after his Garmin-Cervelo team won Sunday's second stage team time-trial.
The 33-year-old Norwegian, a winner of eight Tour stages, as well as twice taking the green points jersey for best sprinter, leads British teammate David Millar in the overall classification after the pair helped Garmin win the 23km stage around Les Essarts in a time of 24 minutes, 48 seconds.
BMC Racing, Team Sky and Team Leopard finished second, third and fourth respectively, just four seconds behind Garmin, with HTC-Highroad another second behind in fifth place.
Tour champion Contador deserves respect
Philippe Gilbert, who wore yellow after winning Saturday's opening stage, has dropped down to 30th in the standings after his Omega Pharma-Lotto team finished 39 seconds behind in 10th place.
Hushovd takes yellow courtesy of finishing above Millar in Saturday's opening stage, where he came home six seconds behind Gilbert in third place.
Australian Cadel Evans, twice a runner-up in the Tour, lies third overall, just a second behind the Garmin duo, with Briton Geraint Thomas leading a host of riders who are four seconds adrift.
Hushovd, who has worn the yellow jersey three times previously, told reporters: "It was a big dream of mine to pull on the yellow jersey as world champion, so you can imagine how happy I feel.
"We trained hard for this event and spoke beforehand of about what we had to do, and what to avoid," he added.
However, it proved another disastrous day for defending champion Alberto Contador, who is already playing catch-up as he attempts to win the race for a fourth time.
The 28-year-old Spaniard, who is trying to become the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in the same year, lost over a minute on Saturday after getting held up by a crash late in the stage.
And that deficit increased still further after his Saxo Bank team finished 28 seconds behind in eighth place.
Contador is now trailing in 75th position in the general classification, one minute and 42 seconds behind Hushovd.
However, Crucially, he is now 1:41 and 1:38 behind Evans and Andy Schleck, who share the past four runners-up places in the race.
Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)
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