REVEL, France -- Italian rider Paolo Savoldelli sprinted to the finish line to win the 17th stage of the Tour de France Wednesday as six-time defending champion Lance Armstrong maintained his lead in the overall standings.

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Savoldelli, a Discovery Channel teammate of Armstrong's, finished the nearly 149-mile trek from Pau to Revel in 5 hours 41 minutes 19 seconds. He came in just ahead of Norway's Kurt-Asle Arvesen, who was awarded with the same time.

It was the first-ever stage win for Savoldelli and second individual win of this year's Tour by Discovery Channel, which picked up its other win when George Hincapie won the 15th stage in the Pyrenees.

Armstrong has yet to win a stage this year.

Simon Gerrans, of Austria, finished eight seconds behind Savoldelli and Frenchman Sebastien Hinault came in 11 ticks back.

Armstrong finished 22 minutes and 28 seconds behind the stage winner, but all of the Texan's main rivals came in at the same time. Armstrong still holds a 2 minute, 46 second advantage over Ivan Basso, of Italy.

Denmark's Michael Rasmussen is in third place overall, 3 minutes, 9 seconds behind Armstrong, while Germany's Jan Ullrich is in fourth place, nearly 6 minutes back.

Armstrong received his 79th career yellow jersey, tying five-time winner Bernard Hinault of France for second place all-time. Hinault won the Tour for the last time 20 years ago. He's the last Frenchman to have won the race.

Thursday's stage will cover 117 miles from Albi to Mende. The Tour comes to an end on Sunday in Paris.

Stage 17 Results

1 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel 5.41.19
2 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC
3 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Ag2r-Prevoyance
4 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Credit Agricole
5 Andrei Grivko (Ukr) Domina Vacanze
6 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) T-Mobile Team
7 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quick.Step 8 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre-Caffita
9 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
10 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros-Würth

General Classification

1 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel 72.55.50
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC + 2.46
3 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank + 3.09
4 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team + 5.58
5 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne + 6.31
6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner + 7.35
7 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team + 9.38
8 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto + 9.49
9 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems + 9.53
10 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole + 12.07