Sometimes events that come as no surprise can still take your breath away. I knew Lance Armstrong was in great shape at the beginning of the Tour de France. I knew he was going to ride a great time trial on Alp d’Huez, but his performance this afternoon was absolutely amazing.

When I wasn’t looking at Lance, I was watching the crowds. With over 900,000 fans lining the course and often standing right in the middle of it, I was just hoping Lance would reach the barricaded section safely. The fans’ ability to get close to the action is part of the culture of professional cycling, and I believe everyone was happy none of the contenders were involved in any crowd-induced accidents.

Lance wanted to win this time trial ever since the route was announced last fall, and winning while wearing the yellow jersey was an added bonus. Being the race leader also allowed him to start last and receive time checks on Ivan Basso, Andreas Kloden, and Jan Ullrich ahead of him.

Knowing the first few kilometers of Alp d’Huez are the steepest, Lance had to carefully meter out his performance. Going too hard too early could come back to haunt him on the upper portion of the climb, where the gradient eases but you need the power to maintain a high speed. He knew Ullrich would be fast today, and also knew he would be strongest over the flatter stretches at the top of the climb.

As Lance settled into his rhythm and high cadence pedaling style, he immediately started closing the distance between himself and Basso. By the third time check at 12.5 kilometers into the stage, Armstrong and Basso were riding side-by-side, just as they had during nearly every stage in the mountains thus far. The Italian had already conceded two minutes to Armstrong, but he had a reasonably strong finish to only lose an additional 23 seconds beyond that.

The major shuffles in the overall classification, though, were Jan Ullrich and Francisco Mancebo. The leader of the Illes Baleares team lost considerable time and was caught by Andreas Kloden on the finish line. While Mancebo went backwards, Ullrich put in a powerful second-place performance to move himself into fourth overall. However, since Armstrong extended his lead over Ullrich to nearly eight minutes, it’s Kloden and Basso who need to fear the T-Mobile leader most.

The man in the most precarious position heading into Stage 17 is Ivan Basso. Nearly four minutes behind Armstrong, he and his CSC team need to pull out all the stops to try and isolate Armstrong and attack him. At the same time, Basso has to be careful that the two Germans behind him in the overall classification don’t knock him off the final podium in Paris . Kloden is only 1:15 behind Basso, and Ullrich is a little more than four minutes back. Considering the time trial prowess of both men, Basso’s chances of finishing on the podium in Paris are still uncertain. 

Stage 17 is one of, if not the hardest stage of the 2004 Tour de France. It also represents the last good chance several riders will have to attack and use their advantages in the mountains. As usual, Lance will use his team to keep the race under control, but the major fireworks should come from the men currently sitting second through fourth.