MACON, France -- Three-time champion Lance Armstrong added more than 2 minutes to his overall lead in the Tour de France by winning Saturday's 19th stage, an individual time trial.

	In the 31-mile individual time trial Saturday, Lance Armstrong was 53 seconds faster than anyone else.

The Texan finished the 31 miles from Regnie-Durette to Macon in central France in 1 hour, 3 minutes, 50 seconds for the 15th Tour stage victory of his career.

Barring illness or injury, Armstrong will win his fourth straight Tour when the race finishes Sunday with the traditionally ceremonial ride on the Champs-Elysees.

Saturday's win made up for Armstrong's defeat in the ninth-stage time trial, when he finished second behind Santiago Botero of Colombia. That was Armstrong's first loss in a major Tour time trial since he first won the race in 1999.

"After the first time trial, everyone said, 'Armstrong isn't good at time trials,''' the 30-year-old Texan said. "Today, I was very motivated to come back with a win.''

His overall advantage over second-place Joseba Beloki of Spain grew from 5:06 to 7:17 -- which would be his second-largest winning margin in the Tour. Armstrong won his first title in 1999 with a 7:37 lead over Alex Zuelle.

In 2000, Armstrong finished 6:02 ahead of Jan Ullrich, and beat the German by 6:44 last year.

Lithuania's Raimondas Rumsas finished second in Saturday's time trial, 53 seconds behind Armstrong. Rumsas remained in third place in the overall standings, 1 minute behind Beloki.

Armstrong's stage victory was an exclamation point on yet another dominating showing in the 20-stage cycling marathon.

While many think of the Tour de France as a grueling event that pushes even the toughest cyclists to the limit, the U.S. Postal service team rider considers it a fun pastime.

"I just like it,'' he said this week. "I like what I do for a job-slash-hobby. I treat it as a hobby.''

Few others see it that way. The Tour is a three-week slog through the sometimes flat and often hilly French countryside, usually in scorching July temperatures. It is at its most unforgiving in the mountains, where riders face steep climbs that force many to abandon.

Yet Armstrong is making winning a fourth straight title look easy.

"The whole process is fun to me,'' he said. "I get a lot of enjoyment out of winning the Tour de France.''

Armstrong conquered the toughest peaks with spectacular sprints that left rivals stranded, and virtually sealed the title with nearly a week left.

By the time the race came down from the Alps, Armstrong led his nearest rival, Beloki, by a huge margin.

However, there are some aspects of the Tour that Armstrong dislikes.

"It's harder and harder to be away from home with a wife and three children,'' Armstrong said. "My girls started crawling while I was away at the Tour de France.''