Lance Armstrong ... Who else?

Lance finishes what he starts. It was a suspenseful stage with different riders setting the pace along the various checkpoints. Bobby Julich clocked the fastest time amongst the final twenty riders to start and held on for a great fourth place finish. Ivan Basso claimed the fastest checkpoint at 17 kilometers and many eyebrows were raised.

But you have to give Lance credit for always making the right decisions. Not sure how many of you picked up on the fact Lance opted out of going with a full disk wheel. Instead, he chose the much more stable spoked rear wheel that allowed him to negotiate the surprisingly technical time trial course. I heard that none of the OLN announcers picked up on the fact that this was the reason Ullrich took a little time out of him over the last seven or eight flat kilometers into town. Had the whole course been flat, Lance too would have used a disk wheel as they're definitely faster on a flat, straight course. It made sense that Ullrich would pick up a little time there.

That said, Jan Ullrich and teammate Alexandre Vinokourov had impressive performances finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively for the day. I would not have wanted to be Mickael Rasmussen sitting in third place, knowing that Ullrich was coming after me for a podium spot. I think the pressure sort of got to Rasmussen and he made a lot of technical errors going through turns he should have been able to negotiate. He crashed two times and had mechanical problems resulting in lost time with four bike changes. Not sure if you noticed the mountain biker in him as he repeatedly clipped out of his pedals before crashing when he very well might have kept the bike upright had he stayed in his pedals. Yes, it could have gone worse had he broken a bone or not been able to continue. Regardless, he can reflect on a great Tour with the polka dot climber's jersey, a stage win, and a top ten finish.

It seemed for the first time in this year's Tour we got to see Lance let it all hang out and go for the stage win. With respect to the difficulty of the Tour de France and strength of his competitors, he still seemed a bit reserved throughout the mountain stages. Today's ride delivered us some lasting images of seeing him in full force. We have grown accustomed to him winning -- after all this is seven in a row!

While most of the favorites improved on their overall placings it was mostly at the expense of poor Rasmussen. The green jersey is not locked up. Hushovd of Credit Agricole needs to keep close watch on O'Grady and McEwen. The sprint on the Champs Elysees should be fun to watch.

Only one stage left. It should be ceremonial to start, but the day finishes with a full on race around the Champs Elysees. It's a great feeling the night before the final day. The mood at dinner is a bit more relaxed and the guys may even indulge in some desert, but if you ask any one of them they will simply say, "it ain't over till it's over." Let's hope for an exciting, yet uneventful finish.

Count the Americans in the top places: Currently 1st, 5th, 9th, 14th & 17th. Not a bad showing at all.

On to the Champs ...

Guerini rallies T-Mobile

Giuseppe Guerini won the stage into Le Puy-en-Velay. One thing for sure -- with the barriers lining the final kilometer to the finish -- Guerini didn't have to worry about spectators standing in the middle of the road blocking his way to a second career Tour de France stage win. How many of you recall his famous 1999 victory on l'Alpe d'Huez when a collision with a fan interested in a photo almost cost him the win?

Today, he launched a perfectly timed and strong attack on his three breakaway companions -- leaving them looking at one another -- while he sprinted to the victory. It was textbook attacking. Perfectly timed and with just the right element of surprise.

Guerini's win was another moment of glory for one of the strong support players -- similar to George Hincapie and Paolo Savoldelli -- that came here to do whatever it takes for their respective team captains. It's also a nice boost for the T-Mobile team heading into Saturday's time trial.

The American riders are stacked in the overall placings. Three in the top ten with a chance that Levi Leipheimer could crack the top five. Floyd Landis looks like he can only gain places with a strong ride. Bobby Julich and George Hincapie round out the top twenty.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's big time trial for the final say of how the top 10 are going to finish. Will Lance go for the win? Can Ullrich jump over Rasmussen? How many Americans will we have in the top 20? Tomorrow we should have these answers.

Sunday's largely ceremonial roll into Paris should set up nicely for the big sprinters. While you may see some breaks early on, the sprinters' teams won't allow anything to stick. This last week has been a total bummer for the likes of McEwen, O'Grady and Hushovd. Their dying for a massive field sprint and stage glory.

A bientot.

Marcos Serrano -- breakaways rule

Again today's stage was decided from the remnants of an early escape of ten riders. Amazingly, they were all from different teams and it looked like the strongest prevailed. They worked well together building a gap of 12-plus minutes until testing each other out in the final run in.

Carlos Da Cruz of Francaise des Jeux made the first attack. This was a good move since -- as is often the case -- there is hesitation with so many riders. It was the follow up of Merckx, Voeckler, Vasseur and Serrano that ended this move. They began the 3km ascent at 10% average grade testing one another. With roughly 2.5kms to go, Serrano dropped Merckx and Vasseur -- after putting Voeckler in trouble -- and rode in solid with a quick 1km descent.

It was s greatly needed victory for the Liberty Seguros Team, who had so far been unsuccessful in this year's Tour. Axel Merckx led in Vasseur and was noticeably annoyed when Vasseur nipped him on the line for second. Yes Axel pulled, but if he wanted second place, he should have thought about gauging his efforts -- even letting Vasseur pull through -- and sprinting for it himself since he wasn't able to ride the guy off his wheel. They are on different teams after all and, as Lance says, "no gifts."

In the main group CSC cranked up the pace for Basso. He accelerated taking Cadel Evans, Jan Ullrich and Lance to the line. This was another good acceleration and move by Ullrich to sneak some more time from Rasmussen before Saturday's podium defining time trial. If I were Rasmussen, I'd be a little worried about Saturday.

One thing is certain. The time trial will decide the final places if all remains the same through tomorrow's stage. All that stands between Lance and number 7 are three stages. And since the time trial is Lance's specialty, and it's his last significant career race (Sunday should be pretty much ceremonial for Armstrong and the Disco boys), I'd look for Lance to take the stage. I know he doesn't have to win and certainly won't take unnecessary risks if the road conditions are bad (i.e. wet roads, rain, etc.), but he's going to want a stage win before Paris.

With all the excitement of the previous week, it's been lost a little that Sunday's stroll on the Champs Elysees is set to be Lance's last ride as a professional cyclist. Kind of hard to believe. And the way he's going out, it would be hard to bet against him if he decided to postpone the retirement and come back for eight. But I doubt that will happen. Seems Lance knows the time is right. And what a way to go out on top. Seven consecutive wins. What we've witnessed over the last seven Tours has been truly remarkable.

Too many great athletes try to hang on too long and we unfortunately don't always remember them at their best. As with his preparations for every Tour, Lance may have also timed his retirement to perfection.

Friday's stage. Look for the sprinters to reappear. They're anxious and frustrated over all the successful breakaways. Though none of the sprinters would have survived today's brutal climb in the final kilometers even if the peloton had hit it intact. The battle for the green jersey is not over.

Savoldelli's Turn

The Discovery Channel team stamped their authority once again on this year's Tour de France. This time it was through Paolo Savoldelli, recent winner of the 2005 Giro d'Italia. Not a bad season at all for Salvodelli with a pink jersey, stellar teamwork and a TDF stage win.

Discovery's strategy with the larger breaks is a bit different than recent years. In the past, all the riders remained at Lance Armstrong's side to help assure nothing got out of control. Now they are planting a rider in the move that goes clear with no threats to the overall and having success. Today's viewing point was within ten kilometers to go on the last king of the mountain sprint of the day. The first two past were Savoldelli and Sebastian Hinault. It didn't dawn on me that they were only minutes from the finish line. So while taking my time to get back to the TV coverage, I heard a loud roar from the Trek Travel group. It was obvious who had won.

Behind the break, the peloton seemed content twenty minutes behind ... well sort of. They stormed up the final climb, breaking apart the group. All the favorites made the split except Floyd Landis who lost around twenty seconds. Not a significant amount of time and he was probably more caught off guard and positioned poorly. He should be able to make up some time during the time trial and set things straight.

Our itinerary took us on the final 80 kilometers of the Tour de France route. Jonathan Vaughters has also joined our group for the final week into Paris. He raced most recently on the Credit Agricole team and retired in 2003 after a stint at Prime Alliance. We have known each other for a long time going back to 1989, when we were both juniors. It was fun to reminisce about racing days and experiences and talk about the race. Of course we couldn't resist the opportunity to hammer a little on each other. I took the opportunity to jump him after a nice draft behind a couple on a tandem. He bridged on the second from last king of the mountain climb and the race was on. You can guess who got the better of who since I'm telling this story.

Stage 18 into Mende will likely not end in a field sprint. It finishes up the 3km climb Cote de la Croix-Neuve which has an average grade of 10%. Perfect for a powerful rider like Alexandre Vinokourov and why not the maillot jaune Lance Armstrong. The big question is will any team control the group to avoid another escape full of riders down on the overall.