The story book ending

No one could have written a better ending for Lance Armstrong. After leading for much of his last Tour de France, he still had yet to win a solo stage this year. Today was stage 20, the penultimate stage and the last and longest time trial at 55 km. It's the trial Lance has owned all but one of his soon to be seven Tour victories. With a 2:46 gap on Basso, he didn't necessarily need a stage win today, but he clearly wanted it. The Boss proved once again that in Le Tour he gets what he wants, beating the superb time trialist Jan Ullrich by 23 seconds and the rest of the field by 1:16 (Vino) or more. It was a dominate performance to end a dominate career. He beat Basso, who finished fifth, by nearly two minutes, increasing his overall lead over 2nd place to 4:42.

Tomorrow's ride into Paris will be uncontested for the yellow jersey. The champagne will be passed around as they ride along the Champs Elysees and when they cross the line the seventh Tour victory will be official.