Le Puy-en-Velay, France ? This is not the time for Lance Armstrong to take chances, push harder, let it all hang out.

Unless, that is, he wants to check off the one accomplishment he has lacked on his final Tour de France: a stage victory to call his own.

Armstrong has taken and held a commanding overall lead without winning a single stage, and today’s final time trial gives him an excellent chance to change that.

The rolling 34.5-mile route at Saint-Etienne in central France should suit a fast roller and climber like Armstrong. But it also will test legs worn out by the 2,108 miles covered in the past three weeks by the 155 riders left in the race.

“It’s a tough course because it’s never flat,” Armstrong said Friday after protecting his lead of 2 minutes, 46 seconds over Italy’s Ivan Basso through stage 19. “It starts climbing almost immediately, and there’s a lot of technical and tricky downhill sections. There’s a little bit of flat road near the end, but it’s almost never flat.”

Lance Armstrong pedals during the 19th stage of the Tour de France. Armstrong protected his lead in the race Friday on the stage between Issoire and Le Puy-en-Velay.

Time trials are raced with aerodynamic bikes, helmets and suits to reduce wind drag and save seconds. Armstrong has won 10 individual clock races in his Tour career. The last was the final time trial in 2004, on a rolling course similar to today’s.

In contrast to his six previous winning Tours, Armstrong’s only victory this year was as a member of the Discovery Channel team, which won the team time trial.

He says Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour champion who will be fighting for a podium finish, will be hard to beat today. But Armstrong’s children, Luke, Grace, and Isabelle, have joined him on the Tour – and it’s hard to imagine that he wouldn’t like for them to see daddy win.

Graphics give detailed info on stages 11 through 20 of the Tour de France; with related stories; 1c x various; 47 mm x various

“Big day,” Armstrong said. “I’m going to ride as hard as I can. I hope to win, but there’s no guarantees in cycling.”

His priority, as it has been since he emerged from the Pyrenees with his comfortable lead intact, is to make sure that he finishes.

“I haven’t won a race this year. I forget those things,” he said. “It’s important, but it’s not everything. If I get second and somebody takes a little bit of time out of me, then that’s OK too.”

The ultimate goal is Sunday, when Armstrong expects to ride up the crowd-lined Champs-Elysees in Paris for the last time to collect his seventh win. There, at age 33, he will retire.

That final ride is largely ceremonial, with sprinters battling at the end for the honor of winning the stage on France’s most famous boulevard. Armstrong prefers to sip champagne in the saddle as Paris approaches and then safely negotiate the cobblestones of the city.