I don’t know about you, but I’m getting excited at the approach of the Tour de France, and the very good possibility that Lance Armstrong is going to do what no man has done before—win six, and humiliate ze French to ze point of national hara-kiri: Making the grandest tour.

Armstrong seems clean because of his devotion to training for the Tour. The very fine British racer David Miller tells the story of ringing Armstrong on his cell phone on Christmas Day a few years back. Miller was tipsy in a bar with his mates. His call finds Armstrong riding his bike up a steep mountain. Miller’s friends wonder why he is swearing a blue streak into his phone at a close friend. Miller’s response: “I’ve just lost the Tour de France.” Armstrong’s dominance and his glorious pleasure in just being able to race and win rang down the curtain on the Tour’s first century.

The centennial race in 2003 was itself thrilling to follow. Armstrong joined Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, and Indurain in the five-time-winner’s club, but only after as competitive a Tour as we have seen since the late 1980s. Armstrong was decisively challenged by three riders. Luck also seemed to have returned to the Tour: Armstrong narrowly avoided serious injury after a fall took one of his chief rivals from the Tour, and later survived two odd crashes to win the key stage on Luz-Ardiden. The great German Jan Ullrich finished second again after crashing during the final time-trial, his last chance to overcome Armstrong. It was a marvelous three weeks.

This summer, Armstrong will seek to do what no other champion could do: win number six. His four predecessors were all beaten by younger determined men who had seen that the king had grown weak. Armstrong may have sent that message last July. We shall know in a month.

Please note that this year, for the team time trial on day 4, the French cycling commission has ruled that no team may gain more than 2:30—a ruling clearly aimed at the US Postal cycling team, to make sure they don’t establish a commanding lead.

Here’s the official Tour de France 2004 route map. Stage 16 is going to be the make-or-break stage, with a time trial ending on the monumental climb of the storied Alpe d’Huez.