21/7/00: Lance Armstrong won the 19th stage of the Tour de France today; a 58.5km time trial between Freiburg and Mulhouse.

Defending champion Armstrong retains the yellow jersey of overall race leader with just two stages remaining after finishing in 1hr 05min 01sec.

Lance Armstrong

He increased his overall advantage over Germany's Jan Ullrich by 25sec to 6min 02sec and is now on the verge of a second successive win in the event.

Armstrong, of the US Postal team, was the last to start, 3min behind Telekom's Ullrich

And the 28-year-old looked as if he wanted to catch the German up as he hared off from the start line.

The American had already posted the best time at the first check of Hartheim after 20km. And with overall victory virtually in his pocket, he was not going to let the lead slip.

At the 44km mark Ullrich passed the second time check with the best interim time as he fought desperately to close the gap on the race leader - but Armstrong immediately bettered him with his 48min 23sec shaving 25sec off his rival. He held that lead through to the finish to take the seventh stage victory of his career.

It was his first win this year after four second places.

He won four stages last year on the way to victory on the Champs Elysees.

"Finally a stage win. For me the Tour would not be complete if I finished in yellow but didn't win a stage," said Armstrong afterwards.

"I really wanted to win a stage. Perhaps I made a mistake on Mont Ventoux," added Armstrong, referring to last week's 13th stage when Italy's Marco Pantani edged him out at the line after the brutal 21km ascent.

It was that same climb which witnessed the collapse and death in 1967 of English rider Tommy Simpson.

"I feel it's important for the maillot jaune (yellow jersey) to show himself in the time trial," added Armstrong, who said he was delighted to have seen off Ullrich "in his own back yard" with his rival still backed by hordes of fans who had nipped over the border to cheer their man.

Armstrong

"It was a big fight," Armstrong added.

Should the American hang on to defend his crown on Sunday in Paris, he will emulate compatriot Greg LeMond's achievement of winning in successive years.

LeMond, who had already won in 1986, performed that feat in 1989 and 1990. He and Armstrong are the only Americans to win the most gruelling race in sport.

Armstrong's team-mate Tyler Hamilton, winner of the Dauphine Libere, took an intermediate lead among morning starters in timing 1hr 08min 02sec to oust early leader Laurent Jalabert by 45sec and Britain's David Millar by 54sec.

But Armstrong shattered those times.

Third on the day was Festina's Christophe Moreau, 2min 12sec adrift as he rose from sixth to fourth overall.

Moreau was one of those thrown off the Tour two years ago in the doping scandal which saw Festina expelled in disgrace.

Hamilton finally placed fourth, 03min 01sec behind, and Spaniard Joseba Beloki of Festina was fifth, another 25sec further back.

Millar finally placed seventh, 3min 56sec off the pace.

Earlier, Armstrong said he would be competing in the Sydney Olympics but would not compete at the world championships in Plouay in western France in October.

"The Tour is so physically demanding - Sydney is my next big objective," Armstrong told French television.

Saturday's penultimate stage comprises the longest of thie year's Tour - 254.5 km from Belfort to Troyes, crossing the regions of Belfort, Haute-Saone, the Vosges, Haute-Marne and Aube.

On the way, the caravan will pass General de Gaulle's burial place of Colombey-les-deux-Eglises at the 184km mark.

In 1960, the founder of the Fifth Republic saluted the riders as they passed his house, shaking the hand of Italy's Gastone Nencini and telling him Paris was not far. Suitably inspired, Nencine duly won the race.

Saturday's stage includes three fourth category climbs at Bourbonne-les-Bains (109.5km, Chaumont 157.5km and Lignol-le-Chateau 191.5km.

The Tour last visited Troyes in 1987. -AFP