LE PUY-EN-VELAY, France -- Italy's Giuseppe Guerini won Friday's 19th stage of the Tour de France, while American Lance Armstrong remains on pace to capture his unprecedented seventh consecutive championship heading into the final two days.

Guerini bested Frenchman Sandy Casar by 10 seconds to take the 96-mile transitional stage between Issoire and Le Puy-en-Velay in a time of 3:33.04. It was the second career stage victory for Guerini, who also won one in 1999, the year Armstrong seized the first of his six straight Tour titles.

Italian Franco Pellizotti finished third, two seconds back of Casar, while Spain's Oscar Pereiro Sio was fourth and vaulted into 10th place in the overall standings.

Armstrong ended 56th as part of the main pack, four minutes, 31 seconds behind Guerini. The Texan maintained his two minute, 46 second advantage over Italy's Ivan Basso. Denmark's Michael Rasmussen remains in third and 1997 champion Jan Ullrich of Germany stands fourth, but is still nearly six minutes back of Armstrong.

The 33-year-old Armstrong can likely secure another Tour win with a strong showing in Saturday's 34.5 mile time trial. The race will conclude Sunday with a 90.5 mile trek ending on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.