Lance Armstrong celebrated the centenary of the Tour de France by winning the world's most famous cycle race for the fifth time on Sunday, a feat only four other men had achieved.

The 31-year-old cancer survivor, who came back from the near-fatal disease in 1999 to win his first Tour, emulated France's Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, Belgian Eddy Merckx and Spain's Miguel Indurain at the end of the 152-km final stage to the Champs-Elysees.

"It's a great feeling when someone like Hinault comes to you on the podium to say 'welcome to the club'," said Armstrong, who beat German Jan Ullrich by 61 seconds overall, his narrowest Tour win by far.

Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov was third, four minutes 14 seconds behind the US Postal team leader, who was challenged and tested for the three weeks, 20 stages and 3,427 km of fastest Tour ever, raced at an average of 40.940 kph.

Tour organisers could not have dreamt of a more fitting winner for the centenary of their race.

The race was tense, hardfought, often dramatic, and finally crowned a larger than life character.

"It was superb, the best race in 20 years or at least since 1989 when I took over as the Tour director," said Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc.

"The champions were at their best everyday, they were tested and challenged daily, both physically and mentally," he added.

From the very first day, Armstrong suffered and struggled like never before.

AVOIDED DISASTER

"It's definitely the most stressful Tour, considering my physical and mental fatigue, by factor of 10.

"In the other years I had five, or six, seven minutes. I think it perfectly sets up an attempt for number six," the American said.

Before the prologue, which he finished a disappointing ninth, Armstrong suffered from diarrhoea and hip tendinitis.

He was involved in a crash on stage one, which forced Tyler Hamilton, the other American hero in this Tour, to race for three weeks with a broken collarbone and still he finished fourth.

Later, in the ninth stage in Gap, Armstrong narrowly avoided disaster when he dodged past Spanish rival Joseba Beloki as the 2002 runner-up crashed in front of him.

Armstrong also fell in the climb to Luz-Ardiden on the 15th stage when the handle of a spectator's bag got caught in his handlebars.

But the accident spurred him to a champion's reaction which virtually handed him his fifth Tour win as he went on to drop Ullrich and take the stage.

Armstrong also conceded his most spectacular defeat in the Tour in the first 45-km time trial between Gaillac and Cap Decouverte, when he suffered dehydration and lost 96 seconds to Ullrich.

But Armstrong said all the excitement and drama was what made the magic of the Tour.

"The Tour de France is an open road and it's a long race. If one day a plane landed on the race I wouldn't be surprised.

"I'd prefer not to have all the drama like this year but anything can happen," he said.

RACE RIVALS

The Texan also discovered for the first time he had rivals capable of testing him.

Ullrich, second for the fifth time in six Tours, confirmed he was the rider who could, one day, beat the American.

The German, Tour winner in 1997, conceded defeat in another dramatic crash in Saturday's last time trial between Pornic and Nantes, but he was not too disappointed.

"Overall I can't be sad. I came here hoping to win a stage. My goal was to get ready for next year," said the Bianchi team leader.

"Challenging Lance for overall victory was not part of my plans. I'm actually surprised everything went so well," he added.

Ullrich missed the Tour last year because of a knee operation and was then given a six-month doping ban for taking Ecstasy in a discotheque.

Vinokourov, inspired by the death of his best friend Andrei Kivilev in March's Paris-Nice race, was also a revelation while Beloki showed great willpower and stamina before crashing out of the race.

If all of them, and perhaps Italy's 1998 Tour winner Marco Pantani, absent because of personal problems, should start the race next year, Armstrong's quest for a sixth win could be even more tricky.

While Armstrong logically topped the bill, France's Richard Virenque and Australia's Baden Cooke stole the secondary roles.

Virenque took his sixth King of the Mountains jersey, equalling a record held by Spain's Federico Bahamontes and Belgian Lucien van Impe.

Cooke took the green jersey rewarding the Tour's best sprinter by two points from last year's winner Robbie McEwen.

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