Confident Armstrong Is Getting Impatient

As they neared Thursday’s Tour de France stage finish, George Hincapie pointed out to teammate Lance Armstrong that there were only 350 kilometers, about 217 miles, left before the ultimate finish Sunday in Paris.

To that, Armstrong said, “Why don’t we just keep going? The sooner it’s done, the better.”

With his record-breaking seventh consecutive Tour victory all but a formality, Armstrong is beginning to smell retirement, and it smells a lot like the beer and burritos it has pained him to shun since he dedicated himself to becoming one of the greatest cyclists in history.

“Honestly, I’m ready for the end, ready for this career to be over and move to something else,” he said.

Armstrong moved 117 miles closer, retaining his comfortable lead in the overall standings while finishing 12th in Thursday’s stage, won by Marcus Serrano of Spain, who stands 40th overall.

Once again, Armstrong and his Discovery Channel teammates easily covered the only two attacks of consequence, one each on the final two climbs. Once again, no one could challenge his dominance.

“I don’t want to say I never have felt threatened, because it sounds like you have a big head,” Armstrong said. “But I have felt pretty good this Tour.

“The [other teams’] tactics have been aggressive but very predictable. Things have gone smooth -- smoother than I expected.”

Armstrong has worn the leader’s jersey for the last eight of the 18 stages completed. Three remain, including the ceremonial entry to Paris, where the leader sips champagne en route and only the sprinters race for the day’s victory. His closest challenger, Ivan Basso of Italy, tried to attack on the final serious climb of the Tour, the Category 2 that ended a mile before the finish. Basso found Armstrong quickly on his wheel and contented himself to crossing the line with the same time as the man in yellow.

The day’s most significant events involved 1997 Tour champion Jan Ullrich of Germany and former mountain biker Mickael Rasmussen of Denmark. Ullrich gained 37 seconds, leaving him 2:12 behind Rasmussen in the race for third place.

Armstrong predicted Ullrich would gain enough in Saturday’s 35-mile time trial to make the podium.

“Jan is looking stronger and stronger,” Armstrong said. “He might be the favorite for Saturday.”

If Armstrong does not win the time trial, he will finish without a stage victory for the first time in his championship years. He won five stages last year, one in 2003, four in 2002 and 2001, one in 2000 and four in 1999.

It seemed a few days ago that Armstrong might go for Thursday’s stage, but he settled for a safe finish, 11 minutes 18 seconds behind the winner.

“Lance definitely wants to win, but he is not going to,” Hincapie had said Wednesday night. “We’ve been at the front three weeks now. For us to go out there and chase [all breakaways] down wouldn’t be smart.”

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Philip Hersh is a sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.