Lance Armstrong won Monday’s Tour de France stage outright, and stretched his lead to a bit more than a minute (1:07) over his closest challenger, 1997 Tour winner Jan Ulrich (second to Armstrong in ’00 and ’01).

Every Tour since 1999 has belonged to the Texan. Tuesday is a rest day; after that, there are five more stages. On Sunday, Armstrong may well equal Miguel Indurain’s record five-in-a-row sweep of the Tour (1991-1995). Three other riders have also won five tours, but not consecutively:

• France’s Jacques Anquetil (1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964);
• Belgium’s legendary Eddy Merckx (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974); and
• France’s Bernard Hinault (1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985)

The last American to win — before Armstrong — was Greg LeMond, who won three times: in 1986, 1989, and 1990. LeMond is also the only other American to ever win the Tour.

Cross your fingers, dear readers. He may not need it, but it can’t hurt.