Starting the day over four minutes ahead of second-placed Ivan Basso, there was no need for anything spectacular but Armstrong has discovered an insatiable appetite for the smallest morsel of glory he can gather from the 91st Tour.

He seems to have adopted a comment from five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault, “pas de cadeaux” (no gifts) as his motto this year and it was clear he was determined to win again today as he stormed into a 45-second lead over Ullrich at the first time-check just 18km in.

Wearing the yellow jersey meant he had the advantage of starting last with everyone else’s time to aim at and Ullrich, who went out nine minutes ahead of him, must have despaired when he heard how his great rival was motoring along behind him.

And there was no sign of Armstrong fading as he did nothing but extend his lead relentlessly.

His winning margin was one minute, one second. His average speed, after three weeks’ racing, was 49.388km/h.

Armstrong told Eurosport: “I started fast right out of the blocks. I felt good.”

Winning a sixth Tour was thought to be impossible, like running a four-minute mile.

But champagne and the Champs Elysee are all that is left in the race for Armstrong who will go one better than cycling titans like Hinault, Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil and Miguel Indurain providing he finishes tomorrow’s final stage.

And Armstrong went as close as he has dared to counting his chickens when he said: “I’m always careful to say that we have another day to go and if you crash on the Champs Elysee and you don’t finish you don’t win.

“But how do I feel about winning six Tours de France? It’s very difficult to say, you’d have to ask me in a couple of weeks. When I won the first one, I could have died a happy man.”

For Ullrich, a win at the Olympics notwithstanding, a winter of self-reproach awaits after a Tour in which he could not live up to his billing as the best of the rest.

The German was, by common consent, out of shape when the race began and, while he has ridden himself into form, he has rarely looked anything like as good as the Ullrich of last year, far less the one which won the Tour in 1997.

He could say that, unlike Tyler Hamilton and Iban Mayo who had also been expected to challenge Armstrong, he did finish the race but there can be little joy in that achievement.

His race can be summed up by the fact that team-mate Andreas Kloden – German champion but a lowly domestique on Ullrich’s team – looks to have beaten his senior partner to a place on the podium.

Kloden edged into second place overall, ahead of CSC’s Ivan Basso by just 21 seconds, while Ullrich is in fourth, more than two minutes behind the young Italian.

Basso – best young rider in the 2002 Tour – has considerably enhanced his reputation in the last three weeks, although he suffered today in probably his least favourite part of the race.

The 26-year-old, the only man who could live with Armstrong in the mountains, is not a natural time-trialler but he managed to keep his losses to a minimum and could attempt to retake second place from Kloden tomorrow.

The only downside in what was a momentous day in the history of the Tour was the revelation from race director Jean-Marie Leblanc that threats had been made against Armstrong, prompting extra security measures to protect the yellow jersey.

Ireland's Mark Scanlon finished today's stage well down the field but looks set to complete the Tour de France at his first attempt in Paris tomorrow.