CYCLING/Tour de France: Today Lance Armstrong will clinch the Tour de France in the final time-trial stage around Besançon but to understand the mind-set that will give him a record sixth Tour win it is necessary to look back eight days, before the opposition crumbled in the Pyrenees and Armstrong's hat-trick of Alpine stage wins.
Racing into the little town of Figeac, up the slope to the finish line, Armstrong was with the best sprinters in the race fighting out fourth place. The prize money was irrelevant, the placing meaningless, but what mattered was that in the uphill finish the peloton might stretch and split - as it did - and a few seconds might be lost to Jan Ullrich or Tyler Hamilton.
Race organiser Jean-Marie Leblanc spoke for many when he referred to Armstrong's "methodical, even maniacal" attention to detail. He brings his own chef and rides up l'Alpe d'Huez five times in training.
Armstrong is obsessive in other ways as well. Yesterday he rode out of the peloton in pursuit of the Italian Filippo Simeoni, tailed him to the day's escape and appeared to foil his attempt to win the stage. Simeoni is the principal prosecution witness in the trial of Armstrong's trainer Michele Ferrari and is suing Armstrong for libel. It left the impression that the boss of the peloton was throwing his weight around.
Armstrong's sixth victory is assured and it will be as dominant as any of Eddy Merckx's or Bernard Hinault's greatest wins, with five stage victories to date in all disciplines: time-trial, team time-trial, mountain-top finish, sprint from a small group. That domination is not born of any single factor, which is why talk that his success is solely down to the use of banned drugs is facile.
The modern Tour is not won in any one domain. It is a kaleidoscope of small things which come together in a certain way. Armstrong's work with Ferrari, on trial for drug offences not related to the American, is merely one element in the greater whole. Ferrari has a reputation for making riders win - by fair means or foul, depending which side of the argument you come from - so he has been hired and used to the full.
In this Tour every piece has fallen into place. Armstrong timed his run to fitness so that his form peaked at the right moment whereas Ullrich has got fit too late, as usual, and Iban Mayo was dominant before the Tour began.
Misfortune, when it struck, targeted Hamilton and Mayo but in the Tour crashes tend to happen to riders who are a little below form and trying a little too hard.
Armstrong's team have ridden perfectly. The Blue Train has guided him through the mountains with devotion that seems to border on fear. On Thursday, for example, Floyd Landis set such a pace up the final climb that all bar the best four were burned off, although in terms of winning the Tour there was no tactical need.
The Postmen are marshalled in military style, with manager Johan Bruyneel pulling the strings from the team car where he watches the race on TV while telling the team through their radio earpieces what to do.
This year's victory has to be seen in the context of last year's near defeat. When Armstrong gave his final interviews in Nantes a year ago having taken his fifth Tour, he criticised the mistakes he had made in the build-up. None was major but they added up. These have been rectified by the man who, in terms of the Tour, is the God of Small Things.
Guardian Service
18th stage: 166.5 km from Annemasse to Lons-le-Saunier
Stage 18: 1 J M Mercado (Spa) Quick Step-Davitamon 4:04.03, 2 J V Garcia Acosta (Spa) Illes Balears same time, 3 D Fofonov (Kaz) Cofidis 11 secs behind, 4 S Joly (Fra) Credit Agricole, 5 M Lotz (Hol) Rabobank, 6 J A Flecha Giannoni (Spn) Fassa Bortolo, all same time
Overall standings (yellow jersey): 1 L Armstrong (US) US Postal 78:20.28, 2 I Basso (Ita) Team CSC 4.09, 3 A Kloeden (Ger) T-Mobile 5.11, 4 J Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile 8.08, 5 J Azevedo (Por) US Postal 10.41, 6 F Mancebo Perez (Spn) Illes Balears 11.45, 7 G Totschnig (Aust) Gerolsteiner 12.56, 8 C Sastre (Spn) Team CSC 15.14, 9 L Leipheimer (US) Rabobank 16.25, 10 P Caucchioli (Ita) 16.33, 89 M Scanlon (Irl) A2R 2:18.12
Teams: 1 T-Mobile 233:03.45, 2 US Postal 5.12, 3 Team CSC 10.49, 4 Quick Step-Davitamon 43.07, 5 Illes Balears 46.38, 6 Phonak 52.04, 7 Brioches La Boulangere 1:14.53, 8 Rabobank 1:19.36, 9 Credit Agricole 1:20.24, 10 Euskaltel 1:31.29
Points (green jersey) 1 R McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo 238 pts, 2 T Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole 227, 3 E Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile 221, 4 S O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis 215, 5 D Hondo (Ger) Gerolsteiner 201, 6 Armstrong 128, 7 T Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon 128, 8 L Brochard (Fra) AG2R 124, 9 Kloeden 121, 10 J-P Nazon (Fra) AG2R 116
King of the mountains (polkadot jersey) 1 R Virenque (Fra) Quick Step-Davitamon 226 pts, 2 Armstrong 172, 3 Basso 119, 4 M Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 119, 5 Ullrich 115, 6 Kloeden 112, 7 C Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 112, 8 F Mancebo Perez (Spn) Illes Balears 77, 9 J Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 71, 10 A Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo 65
Young rider (white jersey) 1 T Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 78:41.40, 2 V Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears 45 secs behind, 3 S Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 1.56, 4 M Rogers (Aus) Quick Step-Davitamon 13.18, 5 J Pineau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 15.26, 6 I Camano (Spn) Euskaltel 18.12, 7 S Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 27.29, 8 M Scarponi (Ita) Domina Vacanze 33.51, 9 M Astarloza Chaurreau (Spn) AG2R 1:23.13, 14 M Scanlon
Paris beckons for survivor Scanlon
Mark Scanlon is now just two stages away from finishing his first Tour de France and, barring illness or injury, seems certain to achieve his goal of reaching Paris. The 23-year-old finished as part of the main bunch, which crossed the line 11 minutes and 29 seconds after stage winner Jual Miguel Mercado yesterday, placing 81st on the 166.5-kilometre stage. He remains 89th overall and 14th in the "best young rider" standings.
Scanlon should have no problems today during the 55-kilometre individual time-trial in Besançon. As per tradition, tomorrow's final stage to the French capital will be somewhat processional for the first couple of hours, with the riders cranking up the speed as they approach Paris and the nine flat-out laps of the Champs Elysees circuit.
