Pouring it on

LE GRAND-BORNAND, France — Overpowering in the mountains, now unbeatable in a sprint. Seems there’s nothing Lance Armstrong can’t do as he rides inexorably into Tour de France history, utterly outclassing his rivals.

With a stunning final dash of speed, Armstrong snatched victory from German Andreas Kloden at the end of the Tour’s hardest Alpine stage, pedaling so furiously that his bicycle swung wildly beneath him.

The win Thursday was Armstrong’s fourth this Tour — matching his best in previous years when he also dominated — and his third in three consecutive days, allowing him to all but lock up a record sixth-straight crown.

It also was perhaps the most incredible. Even Armstrong seemed to find his sprint finish hard to believe. A beaming smile on his face, he jubilantly pumped his fists in the air as he zoomed past Kloden, who seemed destined to win until Armstrong edged him at the line.

“No gifts this year,” the five-time champion said. “I want to win.”

Aside from satisfaction, the victory earned Armstrong 20 bonus seconds that helped extend his already sizable overall lead on Italian Ivan Basso to 4 minutes, 9 seconds. Barring disaster, that is more than enough to carry the Texan through to the finish in Paris on Sunday to become the only six-time winner of the 101-year-old cycling marathon.

“Sweet,” he told teammate Floyd Landis as they hugged at the finish.

“You’re the man. Nice sprint. I’m glad you got it,” Landis replied.

Armstrong’s original plan had been to let Landis win. But in the end, the chance for a 20th career individual victory in his favorite cycling race was too good to pass up.

At the top of the last of five climbs on the 126.8-mile trek through the Alps, Armstrong reached an arm over to Landis and told him to try for what would have been his first victory. The finish was eight miles away, at the end of a long, speedy descent to Le Grand-Bornand.

“I said, ‘How bad do you want to win a stage in the Tour de France?’ He said, ‘Real bad,’ ” Armstrong recounted later. “I said, ‘How fast can you go downhill?’ and he said, ‘I go downhill real fast.’ He said, ‘Can I do it?’ And I said, ‘Sure you can do it.’ Then I told him, ‘Run like you stole something, Floyd.’ “

Landis zoomed away but was quickly caught by German Jan Ullrich, Armstrong’s big rival. Armstrong laid chase, followed by Basso and Kloden. Together, Ullrich, Basso and Kloden had been the only riders able to stay with the two Americans on the last climb up the Col de la Croix Fry.

Hurtling toward the finish, the five riders eyed each other and jostled for position. Armstrong, distinctive in his overall leader’s yellow jersey, put his sunglasses back on and took a couple of sips from his drink bottle.

Just after they passed under a blue inflatable arch marking 1/2 mile to go, Kloden made his move, spurting suddenly ahead to build a slight lead through the final corners.

But then, when it was almost too late, Armstrong hit the highest of his many gears. With a final glance over his shoulder and within sight of the line, he rocketed off in pursuit and found just enough speed to beat Kloden by a whisker.

“Something came over me and I said, ‘OK. I have to go for it. To get to win in the sprints is exciting,’ ” Armstrong said. “When I first started I thought, ‘I’m not going to catch ‘em.’ … But the finish line was far enough away that I made it through.”

He dedicated his win to Landis, who led his boss up the grinding final climb. Landis’ pace was so punishing that only Basso, Kloden and Ullrich — two, three, and four in the overall standings behind Armstrong — could follow.