St Etienne: Lance Armstrong completed a near-certain seventh Tour de France victory in style Saturday when he won a 55.5 km individual time trial in the 20th and penultimate stage of his final Tour.

With an overall lead of four minutes and 40 seconds over Italy’s Ivan Basso and 6:21 over German Jan Ullrich, only an absolute nightmare on the last day can stop the American six-time champion from adding a final jewel to the crown.

In one hour 11 minutes 46 seconds and at an average speed of almost 46 kmph, the Discovery Channel team leader beat Ullrich by 23 seconds with Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov taking third place in 1:13.02. It was Armstrong’s first 2005 Tour stage success.

Second place on the day was enough for Ullrich, the 1997 Tour champion, to climb to third in the overall standings at the expense of Dane Michael Rasmussen, whose effort turned into an embarrassing farce. He now lies seventh overall. (Reuters)