Sunday’s final ride into Paris and its famous tree-lined boulevard was savored with a glass of champagne in the saddle. Even Ullrich, his main adversary in previous years, gulped down a glass offered by Armstrong’s team manager through his car window.

President Bush called soon after his fellow Texan crossed the finish line. “You’re awesome,” Bush told him.

He was, building his lead from Day 1, placing second in the third-fastest debut time trial. That performance silenced doubts that Armstrong was past his prime.

“He’s been the strongest man for the last six years,” Kloden said. “It’s unbelievable.”

Even more so than in other Tours that he dominated, Armstrong finished off rivals in the mountains — with three victories in the Alps, including a time trial on the legendary climb to L’Alpe d’Huez, and another in the Pyrenees. He also took the final time trial Saturday, even though his overall lead was so big he didn’t need the win.

“We never had a sense of crisis, only the stress of the rain and the crashes in the first week,” Armstrong said. “I was surprised that some of the rivals were not better. Some of them just completely disappeared.”

Those who went home included Basque rider Iban Mayo, who peaked too early when he beat Armstrong in the warm-up Dauphine Libere race in June, and former Armstrong teammates Roberto Heras, left trailing in the mountains, and American Tyler Hamilton, badly bruised in a crash.

Interactive Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong is no mere mortal

Ullrich, the 1997 champion and a five-time runner-up, never recovered from seeing Armstrong zoom into the distance for two straight days in the Pyrenees.

But Armstrong also was forced to defend himself against claims he might have used drugs. The Texan insists his wins are fueled by hard training, that he has never taken performance enhancers or failed a drug test.

Before the Tour, Armstrong sued the authors of a book who implied, without offering proof, that he used drugs.

“They want to create pressure that cracks you,” Armstrong said. “So, internally I say, ‘OK, I will never crack because of that. This will not crack me.”’

Last week, he chased down Filippo Simeoni, an Italian rider who has testified about drug use within cycling, when he tried to surge ahead of the pack to win a stage.

Armstrong still hasn’t decided whether he will return next year to compete in the race for which he leaves his three children in Texas, with his former wife Kristin, while he pounds the roads in Europe.

Seven wins would be like owning seven sports cars, nice but not necessary. Armstrong says he’s interested in trying other races — the Tour of Italy, Classics, and beating the one-hour cycling world record.

“I don’t know what I’ll do next summer. I suspect I’ll be here,” he said. “It’s too big of a race. My only hesitance is I think the people and the event perhaps need a change, new faces, a new winner. If I’m here, I race to win.”

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