BORDEAUX, France -- Lance Armstrong finished 28th in the flat 17th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday, maintaining his overall lead and saving his strength for a crucial upcoming time trial.

Servais Knaven won the 112-mile stage in 3 hours, 54 minutes, 23 seconds.

Armstrong's plan on Thursday was to stay safe. He accomplished that goal and was led to the line by his U.S. Postal Service teammates.

Breakdown -- Stage 17

Knaven Stage Dax to Bordeaux, a 112-mile flat, quick route ending in the renowned wine region of Bordeaux. Winner Dutch cyclist Servais Knaven, of the Quick Step-Davitamon team, in 3 hours, 54 minutes, 23 seconds. How others fared Germany's Jan Ullrich, a Tour winner in 1997 finished 27th; Lance Armstrong was placed 28th; Spain's Iban Mayo crossed in 37th place; Kazakhstan's Alexandre Vinokourov was 41st position. Yellow jersey Armstrong retains overall lead with a time of 74:40.28 -- 1:07 ahead of closest challenger Ullrich. Quote of the day "I'm not a rider who wins a lot of races.'' -- Knaven, after winning his first ever Tour stage. Next stage Friday's 18th stage is another flat route favoring sprint specialists -- a 126-mile course from Bordeaux to Saint-Maixent-L'Ecole. -- The Associated Press

Armstrong, trying for a record-tying fifth straight Tour win, finished in a group of riders that included Jan Ullrich, his closest rival.

By finishing with the same time as Ullrich, Armstrong preserved his 67-second lead over the 29-year-old German with just three days of racing remaining.

The flat stage from Dax to Bordeaux, the wine capital of southwestern France, offered few chances for Armstrong to extend his lead or Ullrich to make up time.

The racers were content to hang back while a group of 10 riders, including Knaven, broke away in the first kilometer.

Both Armstrong and Ullrich are fixing their attention on Saturday's individual time trial, when they will race against the clock.

Ullrich, the 1997 Tour champion, is hoping for a repeat of his crushing defeat of Armstrong in a time trial last Friday, when he trimmed 96 seconds off Armstrong's overall lead and set the stage for a close final week of racing.

Armstrong, who was battling dehydration in that time trial, has never lost the last time trial at the Tour since his first win in 1999. He said Wednesday he had no intention of doing so now.

Armstrong's mood has been more buoyant since his dramatic stage victory Monday in the Pyrenees, when he recovered from a fall and powered past Ullrich to build on his previously narrow overall lead.

"Ullrich is a dangerous rider for the time trial," said Jose Luis Rubiera of the U.S. Postal team. "But I think in normal conditions Lance would not have lost that time during the (last) time trial."

Friday's 18th stage is another flat leg from Bordeaux, where Armstrong will try to stay fresh and out of trouble leading up to Saturday's clash with Ullrich.

Knaven, of the Italian Quick.Step-Davitamon team, couldn't contain his emotion after his first Tour stage win.

	The U.S. Postal team helped protect Lance Armstrong, left, during Thursday's stage.

"I've always been second, third, fourth in a stage," he said, tears in his eyes. "Today I won. Incredible."

Armstrong finished 8 minutes, 6 seconds behind Knaven. Ullrich, second to Armstrong in 2000 and '01, was 27th in the same time.

"I want to win this Tour. I have never been so close to Armstrong. I feel how my top form is coming," Ullrich said in a posting on his Web site this week.

Paolo Bossoni, an Italian rider for Caldirola-So.Di, was second, 17 seconds behind the winner, and France's Christophe Mengin, of FDJeux.com, was third.

Armstrong's teammates are confident the 31-year-old Texan can match Miguel Indurain's record of five straight Tour wins in the time trial on Saturday.

But Armstrong and Ullrich could enter Sunday's final stage close in time, setting up the spectacle of the two riders battling to the final meter.

Armstrong is hoping it will not come to that.

"The idea is that it will be decided on the time trial," said Armstrong's spokesman Jogi Muller.

Mengin expects Armstrong to triumph in the time trial.

"It will be a beautiful duel," Mengin said. "I don't think that Ullrich can take more than a minute from Armstrong."