Who's race is this might have been a question these last few days. I think Armstrong answered that question at the end of the last Alpine stage today, when he scored probably his most emphatic win of this year's race.

After the work done by his teammates -- and in particular Floyd Landis -- the yellow jersey tried to offer the stage win to his teammate after the summit of the last climb. Armstrong asked Landis to accelerate on the descent and try for a solo win.

When Ullrich responded, then Armstrong had to chase him down. Even though they gapped Ivan Basso, Ullrich didn't want to continue working so Armstrong stopped, too.

Landis tried again and Ullrich nailed him back at the one kilometer mark. Just as the junction was made, Andréas Klöden, Ullrich's teammate, launched a vicious counter attack. It looked like a winning move. But, Landis found some strength from somewhere to pull him back to 50 meters.

At this point, a champion's pride took over and Armstrong charged after him and overtook the German in the final meters in a demonstration of sheer will power. With four stage wins to his credit, he is only one stage win away from beating his previous best for stage wins in a single Tour de France.

Mind you, I will have to look a long way back into history to see when a man won three straight mountains stages! The saga continues tomorrow.