It’s All Over but the Routing

It started with a defiant look and ended with a handshake.

Lance Armstrong’s almost certain victory in the Tour de France came in five mountain stages. And by the time he was through--and a third consecutive title seemed assured--Armstrong’s toughest rival extended his hand, acknowledging defeat with a whole week to go.

“I tried everything to seek out the slightest weakness, but Lance didn’t have any,” Jan Ullrich of Germany said. “That’s why I shook his hand at Luz-Ardiden. For me, the match was over.”

Today, along the Champs-Elysees, that surely will be the case. And the rider whose body was ravaged by cancer five years ago will be a champion again.

Armstrong moved a step closer to victory Saturday when he finished with the main pack in 30th place, trailing stage winner Erik Zabel of Germany.

Armstrong led Ullrich by 6 minutes 44 seconds in the standings. He finished the 93-mile stage from Orleans in the same time as Zabel--3:12:27.

With 99.67 miles separating him from victory, Armstrong is taking nothing for granted.

“It’s still an official stage and something could go wrong,” Armstrong said, referring to the many factors that can shave precious seconds off a lead--a crash, a mechanical problem, overheating in temperatures that Saturday unofficially passed 100 degrees.

“This race has meant a lot to me, though,” he continued more confidently. “It’s been one of the fun victories, and it’s definitely the strongest I’ve ever been.”

The contest opened for real in the Alps, where Armstrong arrived trailing the overall leader by 22 places.

As Armstrong headed into the mountains halfway through the Tour, fans anxiously looked for a sign that he had the race under control. The two-time champion grimaced in apparent agony and trailed Ullrich all the way from Aix-les-Bains to the foot of L’Alpe d’Huez.

That’s when Armstrong began moving up through the pack. He continued until he reached the front, just ahead of Ullrich.

He looked back, staring long and hard into the German’s sunglasses, then surged ahead. He sprinted up the 21 hairpin bends to the summit, claiming his first stage victory and beating his main rival by a whopping 1:59.

“I assumed that if I had to bluff, then they would ride even harder,” Armstrong said after the race, explaining his sudden transformation from ailing rider to stage-winner.

As for “the look,” he denied it was intended to needle Ullrich.

“It was not an arrogant thing,” he said. “It was simply a check of his face and the other faces.”

Ullrich was thwarted again the next day in a grueling uphill time trial between Grenoble and Chamrousse, an Alpine ski station. He was in top form, but then Armstrong slashed a minute off his rival’s stunning time.

“Lance Armstrong once said that Jan Ullrich is the greatest talent in cycling,” the Team Telekom rider said. “This doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Despite the two stage wins and a comfortable third-place finish in the first leg of the Pyrenees, 23 seconds ahead of Ullrich, the leader’s yellow jersey continued to elude Armstrong.

He took it in the next stage, a gut-wrenching stretch from Foix to Pla d’Adet that featured six exceptionally difficult mountain passes.

Following a familiar pattern, he let Ullrich lead for most of the race before powering ahead in the last climb.

In so doing, he moved into the overall lead, where he has remained for the rest of the Tour.

Whatever hope Ullrich had quickly fizzled in the final mountain stage between Tarbes and Luz-Ardiden. He finished just ahead of Armstrong, making only a tiny dent on his rival’s lead.

Crossing the finish line, the 1997 champion extended his hand to Armstrong. And now he figures to settle for a runner-up finish for the second consecutive year.

“This year, he is stronger than ever,” Ullrich said. “Simply unbeatable.”

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Race at a Glance

A look at Saturday’s 19th stage:

* Stage: A 92.84-mile flat stretch from Orleans to Evry, outside Paris.

* Winner: Germany’s Erik Zabel, in 3 hours 12 minutes 27 seconds.

* How others fared: Two-time defending champion Lance Armstrong finished with the main pack in the same time as Zabel. He took 30th place but retained the leader’s yellow jersey, 6:44 ahead of Jan Ullrich.

* Quote of the day: “Two points difference after 3,200 kilometers (1,984 miles), it’s unbelievable.” -- Zabel, whose stage victory brought him within two points of winning the green jersey awarded to the best sprinter. It is currently worn by Australia’s Stuart O’Grady.

* Next stage: Today’s 20th and final stage is a 99.67-mile stretch from Corbeil Essones south of Paris to the finish on the Champs-Elysees.

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THE LEADERS

The leaders in the Tour de France after Saturday’s 19th stage (with cumulative time for leader and time deficit for others):

1. Lance Armstrong (U.S.), 82 hours 20 minutes.

2. Jan Ullrich (Germany), 6:44.

3. Joseba Beloki (Spain), 9:05.

4. Andrei Kivilev (Kazakhstan), 9:53.

5. Igor G. Galdeano (Spain), 13:28.

TODAY ON TV

Taped coverage of the final stage of the Tour de France begins at 11 a.m. on Channel 2.