BORDEAUX, France - Saving himself and his overall lead for their great challenge to come, Lance Armstrong finished grouped with archrival Jan Ullrich in the Tour de France's pancake-flat 17th stage Thursday, their focus on an expected race-deciding time trial.
The 112-mile stage, an anticlimactic route after the drama that gripped cycling's showcase race in the mountains, was won by Servais Knaven, the first Dutch rider to take a stage this year.
For Armstrong, the purpose was to stay safe. Mission accomplished. His U.S. Postal Service team, racing in a long line at the front of the main pack, guided him toward the finish in Bordeaux, southwestern France's wine capital.
The four-time champion, pursuing Spanish great Miguel Indurain's record five straight wins, placed 28th, just behind Ullrich. They finished in the same time, 8 minutes and 6 seconds behind Knaven, meaning Armstrong preserved his 67-second lead over the German with three days of racing left.
The flat stage from Dax offered few chances for Armstrong or Ullrich to gain time. They were content to hang back when a group of 10 lesser-known riders, including Knaven, raced ahead within the first mile.
Armstrong and Ullrich are fixing their attention on Saturday's individual time trial, when they race against the clock and try to clinch the title.
Ullrich is hoping for a repeat of his crushing defeat of Armstrong in a time trial Friday, when he cut 96 seconds off Armstrong's lead and set the stage for a grippingly close finale to the three-week, 2,125-mile slog around France.
"I want to win this Tour. I have never been so close to Armstrong," Ullrich said on his Web site. He was runner-up to Armstrong in 2000 and 2001.
Armstrong, however, was dehydrated that day because of a heat wave that scorched the Tour. He has not lost the last time trial since his first Tour win in 1999 and said he has no intention of doing so now. His mood has been more buoyant since his stage victory Monday in the Pyrenees, when he recovered from a fall and powered past Ullrich to build on his previously razor-thin overall lead.
"Ullrich is a dangerous rider for the time trial," Armstrong's teammate, Jose Luis Rubiera, said. "But I think in normal conditions Lance would not have lost that time during the (last) time trial."
In today's flat stage, Armstrong's aim again is expected to be staying fresh and injury-free.
Knaven, of the Italian Quickstep-Davitamon team, was delighted with his first Tour stage win.
"I've always been second, third, fourth," he said with tears in his eyes. "Today I won. Incredible."
Italian Paolo Bossoni of the Caldirola-So.Di team finished second, ahead of France's Christophe Mengin, of fdjeux.com. Knaven finished in just 3 hours, 54 minutes, 23 seconds, racing at a speedy average of 29 mph.
Armstrong's team is confident he can clinch his record-tying fifth title Saturday. If, however, Armstrong and Ullrich go into Sunday's last stage in Paris equal on time, the Tour could face the incredible spectacle of them battling to the last on the Champs-Elysees.
Armstrong hopes it will not come to that.
"The idea is that it will be decided on the time trial," said his spokesman Jogi Muller, a former rider who raced eight Tours.
RATINGS ON RISE: Television ratings on CBS for the first two weekends of the Tour rose 17 percent from last year.
An average of 1.4 percent of the 106.7-million U.S. homes with televisions watched the network's coverage the past two Sundays, according to Nielsen Media Research Inc. Last year's first two broadcasts drew 1.2 percent of U.S. households.
This year's early ratings equal those from four years ago on ABC, the best viewership since the race drew 1.6 percent of U.S. homes for ABC's first two telecasts in 1997.
