Alexandre Vinokourov said he's ready to ensure that Lance Armstrong's final stab at the Tour de France will not end with the Texan in the yellow jersey. Armstrong, 33, will bid for a seventh consecutive Tour crown before hanging up his bike for good on July 24 when the race arrives on the Champs Elysées.

In recent years, Vinokourov's T-Mobile teammate Jan Ullrich has been the American's main rival, and this year again the German is hoping he can finally rob Armstrong of a successful swan song ahead of his retirement.

However Vinokourov, who is having an excellent season so far and finished third on the Tour in 2003, admits he will hope to get help from his T-Mobileteammate if he finds himself in a winning position. The 31-year-old from Kazakhstan, racing at this week's Dauphiné Libéré along with Armstrong, said that winning the prestigious Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day classic this spring had been a dream come true.

But as he eyes the approach of his own retirement, "Vino" - who missed the Tour last year through injury - said the only prize he wants now is the yellow jersey.

"I've maybe still got two or three years left in the peloton but in that time I'll be basing everything on winning the Tour," said Vinokourov, also atwo-time winner of Paris-Nice. "I've won other races, but now the Tour's the only thing I'm really interested in."

Beating Armstrong at the game he has mastered over the past six years, since the American recovered from cancer in 1998, will not be easy - especially on his final race where he is determined to go out with a bang rather than a whimper.

The climbing and time trialling skills which have left the specialists trailing in his wake have been the key for Armstrong, and while Vinokourov isnot the only one to improve in those departments, he hopes it will improve his chances.

"I've worked hard to improve my climbing in the mountains," he said. "I've worked a lot more on that than I have in previous years. I did a training camp at 2000-meters altitude in Kazakhstan for 10 days, then I spent some time in Tenerife in the Canaries. We've also worked on my position on the time trial bike, and I've had tests done on the velodrome and in the wind tunnel to try and improve that aspect." In theory, Ullrich should be Armstrong's main challenger in the July 2-24 race. Germany's 1997 winner has come runner-up five times, although last year he finished off the podium for the first time in his career.

If Ullrich's reportedly good form continues at the Tour of Switzerland next week (June 11-19), he could pose a real threat in July.

In that case, Vinokourov will be ready to work for Ullrich. If not, he hopes the virtual favor will be returned. There is also the factor of their other teammate Andreas Klöden, who finished second on the Tour last year, but is said to be chasing his form after a mediocre start to the season.

"The race will decide what happens," added Vinokourov. "But the most important thing for us is that one of us wins. To come second, third or fourth will not be considered a good result for T-Mobile. It's Armstrong's final season (race), and we'll do everything we can to beat him. If he turns out to be unbeatable again, hats off to him. But we'll see whose wearing the jersey into Paris."