Erik Zabel wins a historic fifth green jersey

But there are many more who have been unable to repeat their first success, including the winners between 1996 and 1998.

The nature of Sunday's final stage in the French capital means that Armstrong is secure in the knowledge that, whoever wins the final sprint to the Champs Elysee finish line, he will end the race as winner.

The day will also end in a historic achievement for Germany, celebrations in Columbia and Spain, relief in France itself and renewed hope for the small army of British cycling fans.

German Erik Zabel will win his fifth successive green points jersey, beating the previous record of four held by Irishman Sean Kelly.

Britain's David Millar finishes his first Tour strongly

Columbia's only finisher Santiago Botero is King of the Mountains in his first Tour, while his Spanish Kelme squad are also likely to celebrate a hard-fought win in the team prize.

The climbers in their distinctive lime green outfits have enlivened the mountain stages and proved that the Tour were right to invite them to the party as a wild card entrant.

Spain has the best young rider Francisco Mancebo, and four of the top ten, including third-placed finisher Joseba Beloki.

Santiago Botero and Kelme have had a great Tour

France can look back on two stage wins after none in the 1999 race, while in Britain the performance of opening stage winner David Millar has impressed his followers.

The 23-year-old will be the race's youngest finisher - 62nd of the 128 survivors.

But all these achievements will be put in the shade by Armstrong.

The American has a lead of six minutes over one of the one-time winners from the 1990s, Jan Ullrich, the German who won three years ago and is now set for a third second place to go with his single win.

During this year's race Armstrong has also seen off the challenge of 1998 champion Marco Pantani.

Armstrong's efforts are made all the more special by the fact that as Denmark's Bjarne Riis held the crown four years ago, the American was diagnosed with testicular cancer and given a minimal chance of survival.

Cancer was probably the best thing that ever happened to me - it nearly killed me, but instead it made me a better athlete

Lance Armstrong

No matter how hard things might look at a given moment, they could never be as hard as when I was back in Austin in a hospital bed with my hair falling out

Armstrong on the mountains