In heat intense enough to melt sealing wax on asphalt, Lance Armstrong put a final stamp on the Tour de France winner’s envelope that contains his name.
Saturday’s 30-mile individual time trial gave Armstrong a chance to redeem his second-place finish in the Tour’s first extended time trial. “I wasn’t out for revenge,” he said, but pride was apparently enough.
The 30-year-old Texan, now only a parade stage away from cutting the ribbon on his fourth straight Tour victory, took the solo test in 1 hour 3 minutes 50 seconds. His overall advantage of 7 minutes 17 seconds over Spaniard Joseba Beloki is Armstrong’s second-best margin of his Tour wins.
Lampre team rider Raimondas Rumsas, 30, will become the first Lithuanian to mount a Tour podium after posting the next best time, 53 seconds behind Armstrong.
Rumsas blazed out 17 seconds ahead of Armstrong at the first checkpoint (6.5 miles), but had trouble with faulty handlebars and couldn’t keep up his pace.
Rumsas’ ride firmly installed him in third place, 8:17 behind Armstrong. The top three positions are expected to go unchallenged Sunday as the peloton rolls 87 miles from the Paris suburb of Melun to the sweeping vista of the Champs-Elysees.
Despite the baking sun and temperatures in the 90s, spectators packed the 30-mile course that began in the tiny hamlet of Regnie-Durette and wound through a lyrical string of villages familiar to many from wine labels, including Villie-Morgon, Saint-Amour and Fleurie. Armstrong, wearing the leader’s yellow jersey and the specially tapered helmet designed for time trials, parted the crowds like an arrow.
He is poised to join Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault of France, Eddy Merckx of Belgium and Miguel Indurain of Spain as the only four-Tour winners. He can tie Indurain for the record next year.
Levi Leipheimer, who finished more than three minutes behind Armstrong, passed the champion’s U.S. Postal Service teammate Roberto Heras on Saturday for eighth place overall.
“I probably could have been a couple of places higher, looking back, but I could have been 15 places lower,” said the Montana native, who rides for Rabobank. “I can be content with it.”
Leipheimer, a surprise third-place finisher in last year’s Tour of Spain, said he considered his Tour performance “confirmation” of his abilities as a three-week rider. “In the Vuelta, I just kind of stumbled on third place,” Leipheimer said. “I went in with nothing to lose. Here, I came in with something to lose and more pressure and I survived that, so I think that’s a positive sign. It’ll only get easier from here on in.”
Retiring: Kevin Livingston, the Texan who helped usher Armstrong to his first two Tour wins, announced he will retire at the end of the season. Livingston, 29, cited family concerns and said he wanted to take his life in a different direction.
Armstrong, whose friendship with his fellow Austin resident suffered when Livingston defected to rival Telekom two years ago, said he understood Livingston’s personal priorities but was sorry to hear the news.
“It doesn’t feel like the right choice to me,” Armstrong said. “He’s a fantastic rider, a person I know very well and someone I still have a lot of affection for.
“He’s got a lot of kilometers left in him. . . . I don’t think he made the right decision to leave U.S. Postal. It was a quick decision, a financial decision, and those never end up being the right decisions.”
