ST. ETIENNE, France -- American Lance Armstrong captured the 20th and penultimate stage of the Tour De France on Saturday, guaranteeing an unprecedented seventh consecutive title.

Armstrong, who won his first stage of the 2005 race, easily finished ahead of Germany's Jan Ullrich in a time of 1 hour 11 minutes 46 seconds after the grueling 34.5 mile time trial around St. Ettienne.

Ullrich's teammate Alexander Vinokourov, of Kazakhstan, finished third.

The stage win was the 22nd of Armstrong's career.

"I wanted to go as hard as I could," said Armstrong, who extended his comfortable lead to 4inutes 40 seconds ahead of Ivan Basso, of Italy. Armstrong's longtime rival Ullrich is third overall, 6 minutes 21 seconds behind.

Saturday's time trial win sets Armstrong up for an emotional victory ride on the last leg into Paris, where the 92nd Tour de France will conclude on Sunday with a 90.5 mile trek ending on the Champs-Elysees.

It is then that Armstrong, 33, will retire wearing the famed "maillot jaune" as the winner for a seventh, and final, time.

Stage 20

1 Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel) 1.11.46
2 Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile Team) + 0.23
3 Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile Team) + 1.16
4 Bobby Julich (Team CSC) + 1.33
5 Ivan Basso (Team CSC) + 1.54
6 Floyd Landis (Phonak) + 2.02
7 Cadel Evans (Davitamon-Lotto) + 2.06
8 George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) + 2.25
9 Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears) + 2.51
10 Vladimir Karpets (Illes Balears) + 3.05

General Classification

1 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel 82.34.05
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC + 4.42
3 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team + 6.21
4 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne + 9.59
5 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner + 11.25
6 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team + 11.27
7 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank + 11.33
8 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto + 11.55
9 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems + 12.44
10 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems + 16.04