July 22 (Bloomberg) — Lance Armstrong won the 17th stage of the Tour de France, his third straight success, to extend his lead with three days left in cycling’s biggest event.
Armstrong, seeking a record sixth victory in the 101-year- old race, edged Andreas Kloden, Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso in a sprint finish. He clocked 6 hours, 11 minutes and 52 seconds for the 204.5-kilometer (128-mile) trip over five mountains, an average speed of 33 kilometers per hour.
The Texan crossed the finish-line one second ahead of Ullrich and Basso and, with a 20-second win bonus, stretched his overall lead to 4 minutes and nine seconds over second-place Basso. Kloden is more than five minutes off the lead, with 1997 winner Ullrich eight minutes behind Armstrong.
“I’m in really great form and my team is just incredible,” Armstrong told Francetelevision. “They controlled everything today and sheltered me from any attacks.”