Stage 19: How about One More Week? When I talked to Lance Armstrong a few hours before today's final individual time trial, he told me he was feeling so good he could race for another week. Fortunately for the rest of the field, there was only today's stage and tomorrow's procession to Paris left to ride. After doing his normal warm-up and receiving some last-minute advice from teammates who had already finished, Armstrong calmly made his way over to the start house. There was none of the nervousness or concern he carried with him to the start of the final time trial in 2003; this year he was starting with over four minutes' advantage and looking to gain even more time. With the very fast times set by Floyd Landis, George Hincapie, Jose Azevedo, and Jose Luis Rubiera before him, Armstrong had a wealth of information to use during his ride. He poured on the power and not only set the fastest time at every checkpoint, but also he steadily gained time on the stage's second-place finisher, Jan Ullrich. This will be the first time in seven starts that Jan Ullrich doesn't finish first or second in the Tour de France. It is difficult to say whether we've already seen the best from the German champion, but as long as he is competing he will always be considered a threat to win this great race. Just 26 seconds behind Ullrich on the stage, his teammate Andreas Kloden rode himself onto the second step of the final podium in Paris. Ivan Basso held him off for the majority of the stage, but lost second place within the final seven kilometers of the 55-kilometer test. With the rise of Andreas Kloden, T-Mobile team now has to look forward to 2005 with three potential leaders: Jan Ullrich, Andreas Kloden, and Alexander Vinokorouv. Healthy and well-prepared, they would be a difficult trio to beat. The US Postal Service, which will be the Discovery Channel team next year, is the only squad that could be up to the challenge of beating a team led by Ullrich, Kloden, and Vinokorov. Floyd Landis finished fourth on today's stage after working as a domestique for nearly three weeks. Jose Azevedo's tenth place on the stage preserved his fifth place position in the general classification. In total, four USPS riders finished in the top ten today, and two more finished within the top twenty. George Hincapie beat the top GC riders from Rabobank, Credit Agricole, and every other team with the exception of CSC, T-Mobile, Illes Belaeres, and his own USPS. Lance is not thinking about next year yet, there is still one more day to race. Tomorrow's final stage will be a celebration of a job well done, not only for Armstrong, but also for his team and for every man strong enough to reach the finish line of the 2004 Tour de France.