The king has been crowned. It was another commanding performance to not only consolidate Lance's yellow jersey lead, but to also honor the golden fleece.

Lance Armstrong totally crushed his rivals in today's stage, the 55-kilometer time trial, starting and finishing in the same town, Besançon -- poignantly enough, the timing capital of France. There is a museum to time here in the center of town, and perhaps they need to open a new wing to honor the efforts of Lance Armstrong.

Lance was second in the Prologue, just a couple seconds behind Cancellara. First in the team time trial. First again on Alpe d'Huez. And finally, a resounding victory around the beautiful French countryside just outside Besançon.

Second place again was Jan Ullrich, with the same time gap that we saw at Alpe d'Huez. Of course, Ullrich had lost many minutes in the Pyrenees and found himself nine minutes and nine seconds behind Lance Armstrong at the end of the stage.

Ivan Basso plummets to third, after perhaps the best time trialing performance of his career. It was a great ride by Basso to keep himself on the podium in Paris.

Second place will be Andréas Klöden, moving up one slot after a fantastic performance himself in the individual time trial. Andréas Klöden is the new star of international cycling for the near future.

Lance Armstrong now has an epilogue of sorts -- a parade into Paris, where he will be regaled with the glory and honor that he deserves.

No one has won six. Tomorrow we will see that finally pulled close -- and Lance Armstrong just has to step across.