Tour de France Daily Blog - Stage Twenty

The second-to-last stage both starts and ends in Saint-Etienne. The time trials for this stage will be hosted by this lovely city, which is a dream destination for antiques and art lovers. A walk in its enchanting historic city center is memorable.
Results and standings
Lance Armstrong set himself up well for a historic seventh Tour de France win tomorrow by winning today's time trial stage. He got some stiff competition today from German Jan Ullrich, who placed second 23 seconds behind Armstrong. Mickael Rasmussen had a tragic day, wrecking twice and plummeting from third in the general classification to seventh.
The top 10 for Stage Twenty:

• 1. Lance Armstrong (USA) DSC 55.5km in 1h11’46"
• 2. Jan Ullrich (Germany) TMO - at 23"
• 3. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakstahn) TMO - at 1’17"
• 4. Bobby Julich (USA) CSC - at 1’33"
• 5. Ivan Basso (Italy) CSC - at 1’54"
• 6. Floyd Landis (USA) PHO - at 2’02"
• 7. Cadel Evans (Australia) DVL - at 2’06"
• 8. George Hincapie (USA) DSC - at 2’25"
• 9. Francisco Mancebo (Spain) IBA - at 2’51"
• 10. Vladimir Karpets (Russia) IBA - at 3’05"

The top 10 for general classification:

• 1. Lance Armstrong (USA) DSC – 3,463.5km in 82h34’05”
• 2. Ivan Basso (Italy) CSC – at 4’40”
• 3. Jan Ullrich (Germany) TMO – at 6’21”
• 4. Francisco Mancebo (Spain) IBA – at 9’59”
• 5. Levi Leipheimer (USA) GST – at 11’25”
• 6. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakstahn) TMO – at 11’27”
• 7. Mickael Rasmussen (Denmark) RAB – at 11’33”
• 8. Cadel Evans (Australia) DVL – at 11’55”
• 9. Floyd Landis (USA) PHO – at 12’44”
• 10. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spain) PHO – at 12’44”

Return to my main page tomorrow to track the exciting final stage, and possibly Lance Armstrong's seventh and final Tour de France win.

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