Cycling: Armstrong's anthem is a Tour de force

Round about 5.15pm in Paris today, the sound of the American national anthem will ring out once more in the Champs-Elysées, as it has done every July since 1999, the year of Lance Armstrong's first Tour de France success.

As the Texan completes the 140km stage from Melun to the centre of the French capital this Sunday, he could reflect that this has been the smoothest of his four consecutive Tour victories – despite the early doubts created when he delayed by a crash at Avranches, which then rose after his unprecedented failure to take the race's first long time trial at Lorient.

Armstrong's difficulties turned out to be mere hiccups on the 3,277km route the Tour has taken to Paris. After striking a psychological blow by taking his first Tour prologue in four years at Luxembourg, back-to-back stage wins in the Pyrenees provided the 30-year-old with the key advantage he needed.

Just as in 2001, Armstrong then increased his advantage with calculated attacks on the subsequent mountain stages, moves that widened the gap over his most serious rival, Joseba Beloki, to a solid margin of more than five minutes after the Alps.

If Armstrong has looked more powerful than ever, his superiority appears to be infectious. Collectively the American's Postal squad have done a far better job of protecting the Texan than in previous years. Spanish team-mate Roberto Heras or the squad's other mountain domestique, José Luis Rubiera, were regularly present until at least half-way up the final climb of each stage.

Roberto Laiseka, a stage winner in the Pyrenees last year, recounted. "At the top of each climb, when the rest of us were so exhausted our tongues were hanging out and we could hardly think, you could see Armstrong chatting away, non-stop, into his race microphone. He hardly even broke sweat."

Beloki added: "He's done the Tour he wanted to. When somebody's that strong, there's absolutely nothing you can do."

Armstrong is now only one Tour short of the all-time record of five, held collectively by Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain, the Spaniard who was the last rider to take four consecutive titles.

Come the third week of the Tour, with the overall classification long since resolved, Armstrong's stage wins appear to be more reminders of his superiority than crucial steps towards overall victory.

The last of these gestures came yesterday in the 50km time trial between Regnié-Durette and Macon, where the Texan, having started slowly, defeated Raimondas Rumsas, by a convincing 53-second margin for his 15th Tour stage win. His fourth victory this year also increased his advantage over Beloki to seven minutes – although by this point, it was hardly relevant.

Rumsas's handlebars collapsed shortly after he crossed the summit of the first seven-kilometre climb, the Côte de Fut Avenas, preventing him for almost certainly overtaking Beloki for second overall and perhaps even seizing the stage from Armstrong.

Armstrong, however, was impervious to such problems, and flourished in the intense heat, flashing past the dense network of vineyards at speeds that touched 80 kph.

Beating away at the pedals with his characteristically high cadence, the Texan was 16 seconds behind Rumsas at the summit of the Fut Avenas, but a calm increase in power permitted him to overtake the Lithuanian by the checkpoint at Chanes.

Then a rare smile as he tore round the final right-hand corner was a sign that the Texan knew he had fulfilled his intention, stated the day before, "of showing why I am in yellow in this final time trial".

But if the overwhelming impression for the remainder of the peloton is – as was written repeatedly on the route yesterday – that "Lance Armstrong is God", the question most fans are asking themselves is how long it will be before the Texan returns to the realm of the mortals.

The issue is becoming critical. Viewing figures of the Tour in Spain, one of the countries with most interest in major stage racing, have slumped by a third and, while French fans have flocked to the roadside (the total is said to be around 12 million), the sensation of predictability is steadily increasing to the point of becoming a turn-off.

However, it seems certain that Armstrong will take at least one more Tour – the prestige of winning the 100th anniversary race is too tempting for him to retire at 30. Should he do so he will face overwhelming pressure to continue to take a record-breaking sixth.

Armstrong is ambiguous on the issue of retirement, two of his favourite statements on the subject being, "I will quit sooner than people think" countered by "I will be around for a few more years."

"He will ride the Tour next year to win it," directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel confirmed to L'Equipe. "After that? I don't know. He still takes a great deal of pleasure in winning the Tour."

To judge from this year's race, therefore, one can conclude that the chances the "Star-Spangled Banner" will be heard once more on a Sunday afternoon in Paris in 12 months time, are very high indeed.

Alasdair Fotheringham writes for Cycling Weekly