It’s Just a Matter of Time for Armstrong

The sky was deep blue, smiling on Lance Armstrong. His yellow jersey glistened with hope in sharp contrast to his pitch-black Trek bike, the instrument by which Armstrong was about to put his final emphatic mark on the 2005 Tour de France.

Riding in his last individual time trial at his last professional race, Armstrong, the 33-year-old cancer survivor and record-setting winner of six consecutive Tours, demolished the field Saturday.

Finishing in 1 hour 11 minutes 46 seconds at an average speed of 28.8 mph, Armstrong won the 34.5-mile race against the clock and all but clinched his seventh victory in a row. He avoided becoming only the sixth man in Tour history, and the first since fellow American Greg LeMond in 1990, to win the overall title without winning an individual stage.

Armstrong has won 23 Tour stages in his career.

“I don’t think the sporting accomplishments are going to make my trip to heaven any easier,” Armstrong said, “but it’s nice to finish your career on a high note. To me there was no pressure for this victory. It was just something within myself, as a sportsman I wanted to go out on top.”

The 2,254-mile, 21-stage trip around France ends today with a ride into Paris. For Armstrong and his Discovery Channel teammates, it will be an emotional celebration of his unprecedented accomplishments as well as a bit of melancholy farewell. It is with “no regrets,” Armstrong said that he will end a 14-year professional career that has been as notable for his recovery from near-fatal cancer nine years ago as for his soon-to-be seven Tour titles

Armstrong increased his overall lead over second-place Ivan Basso of Italy from 2:46 to 4:40. Jan Ullrich of Germany moved into third place, 6:21 behind.

Last year, when Armstrong became the first man to win six consecutive Tours, his children did not attend. Saturday, Armstrong fought back tears as he pointed to them, his mother, Linda, and his girlfriend, Sheryl Crow.

“My children are here, thank goodness,” Armstrong said. “Come Monday morning we’ll wake up in Paris. We’ll fly to the south of France, lie on the beach, drink wine, not ride a bike, eat a lot of food, splash in the pool and not worry about a thing. This job is stressful, this race is stressful. Hopefully, the next week will be a preview of what my life will be for the next 50 years.”

Armstrong led the 20th stage at all but one of the five time checks. Basso had begun the day hoping to hold off five-time runner-up Ullrich and he did, though Ullrich finished second in the stage, 23 seconds behind Armstrong. Ullrich passed hard-luck Mickael Rasmussen of Denmark for third place overall.

Rasmussen started the day 2:12 ahead of Ullrich in third. But Rasmussen, who wore the polka dot jersey symbolic of earning the most points in the climbing competition, crashed twice, needed four new bikes and finished 77th on the day, 7:47 behind Armstrong and in seventh place overall. Another American, Levi Leipheimer, moved into fifth place.

John Kerry, the Massachusetts senator and losing 2004 presidential candidate, rode in the Discovery Channel car with team director Johan Bruyneel. Kerry came, he said, because Armstrong and Crow had been in Boston the night Kerry lost the presidential election. “I am a huge fan,” Kerry said of Armstrong. “I know the whole country is very proud of him.”

Ullrich, who rides for T-Mobile, has finished second to Armstrong three times and a year ago finished off the podium for the first time in his career. The product of the former East German sports system had been considered a serious challenger to Armstrong this year. But Ullrich had bad luck -- slamming into a team car in a training ride one day before the Tour began and crashing in another stage -- and he never seriously challenged Armstrong.

“I gave everything I had but it was not enough against Lance,” said Ullrich, who won the 1997 Tour. “I’m just happy to be on the podium with Lance for the last time.”

Basso had all but conceded the overall title earlier in the week after the final mountain stage in the Pyrenees. “He’s a great champion,” the 27-year-old leader of team CSC said. “Lance was too strong for me.”

The racers had been on the road for nearly three weeks and traveled more than 2,000 miles entering Saturday’s penultimate stage. Their eyes have become hollow; their ribs ripple through their skin-tight suits. Their bodies are all angle and bones. They walk slowly, tiptoeing almost, to conserve every bit of energy left.

But not Armstrong.

He stood straight and exchanged air punches with son Luke before the stage. Grace and Isabelle handed their dad a water bottle as he casually warmed up on his training bike. Armstrong filled out his blue and silver Discovery Channel suit. There were still muscles showing.

This course was tough and testing, 34.5 miles of uphill and downhill riding, narrow corners and fans eager to encourage by pushing, shoving, waving flags in the face of men riding more than 20 mph.

Someone threw a beer on Armstrong. It appeared one man spat on him.

The ride started with a four-mile climb into the Lyonnais hills and at one point elevated 1,000 feet higher than the start in downtown Saint-Etienne.

Rasmussen illustrated the dangers of the course early and painfully.

Less than five minutes into his ride, Rasmussen slid into a turn and flew off his bike, shredded his jersey and covered his right side in road dirt and grit.

If it was a day that asked for extraordinary effort from the riders, and if it presented them with special dangers, it also gave them a chance to indulge in small touches of whimsy.

Stefano Garzelli of Italy wore a helmet decorated with the snarling face of an angry cat. Armstrong wore a special helmet painted as a red, white and blue star and he presented teammate George Hincapie, the only man to have ridden with Armstrong for all seven of his Tour victories, with a time trial helmet that said, “Thanks, Bro.”

Hincapie had said earlier this week that he doesn’t expect to see another Armstrong soon. “It’s bittersweet,” Hincapie said. “But I’ve been lucky to be on this ride.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

STAGE 20 AT A GLANCE

* Stage: A 34.5-mile individual time trial raced against the clock around Saint-Etienne.

* Winner: Lance Armstrong, U.S., Discovery Channel, in 1 hour 11 minutes 46 seconds.

* How others fared: Jan Ullrich, Germany, T-Mobile, was second, 23 seconds behind and Alexandre Vinokourov, Kazakhstan, T-Mobile, was third, 1:16 behind.

* Yellow jersey: Six-time champion Armstrong keeps the yellow jersey and, barring an accident or mishap, will win his seventh Tour on today’s final stage. He is 4:40 ahead of Ivan Basso and 6:21 clear of Ullrich. Those two are near certain to take second and third place on the podium.

* Quote of the day: “It’s nice to finish your career on a high note. As a sportsman, I wanted to go out on top.” -- Armstrong.

OVERALL LEADERS

Lance Armstrong, U.S. 82:34:05

Ivan Basso, Italy 4:40 behind

Jan Ullrich, Germany 6:21 behind

Francisco Mancebo, Spain 9:59 behind

Levi Leipheimer, U.S. 11:25 behind

STAGE 20 RESULTS

1. Lance Armstrong, U.S. 1:11:46

2. Jan Ullrich, Germany :23 sec. behind

3. A. Vinokourov, Kazakhstan 1:16 behind

4. Bobby Julich, U.S. 1:33 behind

5. Ivan Basso, Italy 1:54 behind