Lance turns the pedals over in anger for the last time. These images convey the loneliness of an individual time trial and a sense of sadness at the closing of an extraordinary professional career. Tomorrow's stage is more pageantry than anything else. Remember this moment, won't be another like it in our lifetimes--in the cycling world, that is ;)
Lance won today, his 22nd Tour stage victory and a fitting tribute to the yellow jersey. Tomorrow, Lance retires from professional racing and the history books close on the only 7 time winner of the Tour (barring some crazy act of fate or fan)--no one else as ever won more than 5.
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Armstrong edges Ullrich in crucial TT
Ullrich cruises into podium spot as Rasmussen has nightmare TT
By VeloNews Interactive
with wire services
This report filed July 23, 2005
Armstrong gets his stage win and clinches victory in Paris
Mickael Rasmussen saw his third place overall disintegrate after a pair of crashes and a rash of mechanicals, Jan Ullrich returned to the podium and Lance Armstrong locked up his seventh consecutive title in the Tour de France's final time trial on Saturday.
Armstrong (Discovery Channel) won the 55.5km race against the clock, with Ullrich (T-Mobile) second and teammate Alexandre Vinokourov third. But the big winners in stage 20 were Ullrich, who moved into third behind Ivan Basso (CSC), and of course Armstrong, who finally got his stage win and will bid farewell to the sport after Sunday's largely ceremonial finale on the Champs-Elysees.
"Quite honestly, I wasn't absolutely sure I could do it," Armstrong said after the stage. "I thought Jan would be strong, and then when I got to the first check I saw that Ivan was seven seconds up and I thought, 'Oh boy, this could be an interesting day.'"
Results are posted
Rasmussen started six minutes before Armstrong, so this was not a good sign.
"I ended up turning things around and winning," he said. "So, pleasant surprise."
Vladimir Karpets (Illes Balears) set the early best time of 1:14:51 on the course, which VeloNews editorial director John Wilcockson described as "one of the most challenging in recent years." He was dethroned by Bobby Julich (CSC), who cranked out a 1:13:19 only to see Vinokourov ride faster yet, finishing in 1:13:02.
But behind Julich, first Ullrich, then Basso were setting the fastest times at the 17km checkpoint - indeed, just 3km later, a raging Ullrich had taken back his entire deficit of 2:12 to Rasmussen, who was having a nightmare race, with two crashes, a wheel change and four bike swaps that would see him slip to seventh overall at day's end.
Armstrong was second best at that first checkpoint, seven seconds slower than Basso and 10 better than Ullrich. But things had changed by the second checkpoint at 35km, where Armstrong led the German by 19 seconds with Basso third best, 34 seconds slower than Ullrich.
Basso had lost still more ground at 40km, where he had slipped to fourth behind Armstrong, Ullrich and Vino', and at the finish he had slipped to fifth while a flying Ullrich bumped his teammate Vino' into second, crossing in 1:12:09.
But the German would not stay atop the standings for long. The yellow jersey blazed across the line in 1:11:46, collecting his first stage win of this Tour and guaranteeing his seventh consecutive triumph in Paris.
CSC's Bobby Julich finished fourth at 1:33, just ahead of his team leader Ivan Basso who came in fifth at 1:54.
Armstrong is now only 144km away from ending his career in Paris, at the finish of Sunday's 21st stage.
Standing next to the podium with his three children, Armstrong said that he was happy with a stage win, but he had his eye on a bigger prize.
"It's pretty special to have the kids here like this, but (this stage win) is not essential," Armstrong noted. "The essential thing is that I arrive in Paris tomorrow with the yellow jersey."
Ullrich's performance allowed the five-time runner-up to move up to third place in the race's general classification at the expense of Denmark's Michael Rasmussen, who had a nightmare day, changing bikes four times and suffering two crashes.
Basso, who started the race in second place overall behind Armstrong, started the race against the clock the fastest and passed the first time check at 17km with a seven-second lead on the six-time winner and a 17-sec lead on Ullrich.
The 27-year-old Italian faded badly however and by the second checkpoint appeared to be paying for his fast start. At 35km Basso had dropped to third and had a 53-deficit to Armstrong who had a 19-sec lead on Ullrich.
Armstrong, who came second on the first stage 19km time trial in Noirmoutier behind fellow American David Zabriskie, continued to impose his speedy cadence on his rivals over the tough, undulating course and by the third time checkpoint, at 40.2km, his lead on Ullrich had grown to 32 seconds.
Ullrich managed to keep a steady rhythm over the latter half of the race and had lost only three seconds to Armstrong by the fourth checkpoint at the 49.7km mark.
Vinokourov, who began his career based in St Etienne with the Casino team, had started well and was in third at the first checkpoint, and fifth at a minute behind Armstrong at the 35km mark.
However as Basso began to fade, the Kazakh dug deep and had managed to move up to third place at the other two checkpoints.
Rasmussen meanwhile had a day to forget. The 31-year-old from Copenhagen began the day in third place with a 2:12 lead on Ullrich, who unlike Rasmussen is a time trial specialist.
Rasmussen is guaranteed to win the race's polka dot jersey for the race's best climber - if he arrives in Paris without any accidents. But after Saturday's disastrous ride, that possibility can't be ruled out.
The pressure was on for Rasmussen to keep Ullrich at bay, and the Rabobank rider appeared to feel it. He changed his bike four times, ending up on his original bike and crashed once on a hard corner and another time on a difficult descent. Not surprisingly, the Dane declined to speak with reporters later on.
Ullrich meanwhile gave everything he had in the race against the clock. The last time he won a stage on the Tour was in 2003 when he left a dehydrated Armstrong trailing at over a minute behind.
His 23-second deficit to the American is a respectable result and, mission accomplished, Ullrich could not have been happier.
"I'm happy to have a podium place and finish the race in relatively good shape after the two crashes I had," said Ullrich, who crashed on a training ride before the first stage time trial then on the ninth stage while riding at 60kph.
Results are posted
Stage 20 results
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 1:11:46
2. Jan Ullrich (G), T-Mobile, 1:12:09
3. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), T-Mobile, 1:13:02
4. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, 1:13:19
5. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 1:13:40
6. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, 1:13:48
7. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 1:13:52
8. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, 1:14:11
9. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears, 1:14:37
10. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Illes Balears, 1:14:51
Full Results
Overall
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel
2. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, at 4:40
3. Jan Ullrich (G), T-Mobile, at 6:21
4. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears, at 9:59
5. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Gerolsteiner, 11:25
6. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), T-Mobile, at 11:27
7. Mickael Rasmussen (Dk), Rabobank, at 11:33
8. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, at 11:55
9. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, at 12:44
10. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Phonak, at 16:04
Full Results
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