most of the race, US Postal riders held the fastest time, with Viatceslav Ekimov setting an early fast time, eventually beaten by Bobby Julich. Julich was eventually beaten by Floyd Landis, who held the fastest time until the last few riders came in, with Kloden, Ullrich, and Armstrong all beating him. Armstrong had the fastest time, coming in a full minute over his nearest rider, Ullrich. Ullrich ran an impressive time trial, but wasn't able to pull ahead of Basso, and will almost certainly finish the Tour in 4th place. Voeckler, meanwhile, finally had his luck run out, finishing six minutes behind his nearest rival for the white jersey, Vladimir Karpets, who came in 8th in the time trial. Stage 20 25 July 2004 — Montereau-Fault-Yonne to Paris, The largely ceremonial run into Paris held some drama this year due to the closeness of the green jersey competition, which Robbie McEwen led going in by a slim 11 points. With two intermediate sprints and the finish line in Paris, there were plenty of opportunities for Thor Hushovd to take the lead. The two intermediate sprints had no effect on the overall standings, with Hushovd taking one and McEwen taking the other. The final sprint sealed it for McEwen, however, as he finished fourth and Hushovd failed to finish in the top 10. Early dramatics, however, were provided when Fillipo Simeoni made another attack at 1 km. He was pulled in by 8 km by the US Postal led peloton, and Armstrong did not make any personal effort to chase him down this time. He made three subsequent attacks throughout the stage, all unsuccessful. Shortly after Simeoni's first attack, Jimmy Casper, the lanterne rouge, or last place rider, made an attack, shooting out ahead of Armstrong. Having gotten his lead, he removed a digital camera from the pocket of his jersey and snapped a picture of him leading Armstrong, then dropped back to the peloton. 2004 is the second year that Casper has finished the Tour de France, and the second year he won the lanterne rouge. As the peloton reached Paris, a ten-man break including Axel Merckx and Thomas Voeckler got away, but was pulled back several laps further down the Champs-Élysées. Eventually, the stage was won with a solid sprint by Tom Boonen. Armstrong sat well back, losing ten seconds to his nearest rival, but staying in the yellow