The penultimate stage of the Tour de France is Saturday's 55 kilometer Besançon individual time trial. Last year Tour riders raced against the clock and rain, and there is a chance they will again Saturday - rain through the morning was forecast earlier, but now it looks like overcast all day, with a slight north northeast breeze and moderate temperatures, so maybe the weather will be with the riders.

Looking back at last year's time trial, also on Stage 19 (Pornic - Nantes, 49 km), here was the General Classification at the start of that day:

1 Armstrong Lance
2 Ullrich Jan  01' 05"
3 Vinokourov Alexandre 02' 47"
4 Zubeldia Haimar  05' 18"
5 Mayo Iban  05' 27"
6 Hamilton Tyler  06' 37"
7 Basso Ivan  08' 10"
8 Moreau Christophe  11' 14"
9 Mancebo Francisco 16' 07"
10 Sastre Carlos  16' 14"

And here is this year's top ten GC going into the time trial:

1 Armstrong Lance
2 Basso Ivan  04' 09"
3 Klöden Andréas  05' 11"
4 Ullrich Jan  08' 08"
5 Azevedo José  10' 41"
6 Mancebo Francisco 11' 45"
7 Totschnig Georg  12' 56"
8 Sastre Carlos  15' 14"
9 Leipheimer Levi  16' 25"
10 Caucchioli Pietro 16' 33"

2003 Stage 19 Time Trial Results - Top 25
(riders in italics will compete tomorrow)

1 Millar David 54' 05"
2 Hamilton Tyler  00' 09"
3 Armstrong Lance  00' 14"
4 Ullrich Jan  00' 25"
5 Bodrogi Laszlo  00' 26"
6 Ekimov Viatceslav  00' 56"
7 Pena Victor Hugo  01' 00"
8 Hincapie George  01' 08"
9 Chavanel Sylvain  01' 12"
10 Bruseghin Marzio  01' 26"
11 O'Grady Stuart  01' 38"
12 Rogers Michael 01' 40"
13 Moreau Christophe  01' 43"
14 Lefevre Laurent  01' 46"
15 Blaudzun Michaël  01' 56"
16 Vinokourov Alexandre  01' 56"
17 Zubeldia Haimar  02' 02"
18 Petrov Evgeni  02' 07"
19 Mayo Iban  02' 08"
20 Van De Wouwer Kurt  02' 11"
21 Wauters Marc  02' 12"
22 Basso Ivan  02' 16"
23 Peron Andrea  02' 19"
24 Rubiera José Luis  02' 20"
25 Lelli Massimiliano 02' 25"

Here is the profile from the 2003 time trial:

And here is Saturday's TT profile:

Rules for Tomorrow...

• Riders depart at 2 minute intervals, then at 3 minute intervals for the last starters. Riders start in reverse order of the general ranking established following the 18th stage.

• A rider caught by another may neither lead nor follow in the latter's slipstream.

• A rider must leave a gap of at least 2 meters between himself and any rider he passes. A rider caught by another rider will stay at least 25 meters behind the latter.

The top ten riders on GC are scheduled to depart starting at 16:11 local time.

There are four intermediate time check points:

Bonnet-Rond  - km 18.0
Courchelles - km 35.0
Les Planches - km 40.0
La Gare - km 47.5

And...the Green Jersey

The race for the green jersey is not over - there are sprint points for the top ten finishers, and McEwen may well have to hold off Hushovd...there are also two intermediate sprint points on the road to Paris on Sunday.

Here is the current top five in that competition:

1 Mc Ewen Robbie Aus Lot 238 Pts
2 Hushovd Thor Nor C.a 227 Pts
3 Zabel Erik Ger Tmo 221 Pts
4 O'Grady Stuart Aus Cof 215 Pts
5 Hondo Danilo Ger Gst 201 Pts

Vive le Tour!