Happy final climb for third-placed Armstrong

MONT VENTOUX, France (Reuters) - After seven years of domination on the Tour de France and more than three years in retirement, Lance Armstrong was all smiles on Saturday, having made sure he would be on the race podium in Paris.

The 37-year-old American, back to promote his cancer foundation and try to win an eighth Tour, was poised to finish in third place after controlling his closest rivals in Saturday's penultimate stage to Mont Ventoux.

With Sunday's stage a parade to the Champs Elysees before a likely bunch sprint, Armstrong's position will not be threatened.

His Astana team mate Alberto Contador is set to win the Tour at the age of 26, with Luxembourg's Andy Schleck in second place four minutes 11 seconds behind.

Armstrong did the necessary work to hold third place overall in Saturday's grueling ascent to the Ventoux, where he has never won.

"It went good. I felt good. It was a little aggressive at the bottom," said Armstrong, who started the day with a 15-second lead over fourth-placed Bradley Wiggins.

The British Garmin-Slipstream rider was never in a position to attack and was dropped in the final kilometer of the 21.1-km ascent.

"(There was a) lot of wind, lots of teams riding at the front. I can't complain. I mean it was kind of simple: follow Wiggins and follow Frank Schleck, and I had the legs to do that," Armstrong said.

The Texan appeared serene throughout the ascent, staying on Frank Schleck's wheel when the Luxembourg rider tried to drop him on the first part of the climb.

"It was not as windy as advertised. It feels windy here (at the top) but on the way up a little less than we thought, also with the motorcycles," he said.

"I've never seen so many people on the Ventoux. Hell, seems like half of America showed up and all of France. It was so packed and when you have a lot of people it blocks a lot of the wind."

Some 500,000 people lined the roads between the village of Bedoin, at the bottom of the climb, to the top, according to organizers.

"Hey, I can't complain. For an old fart coming in here and getting on the podium with these young guys, not so bad," said Armstrong, who is five minutes 24 seconds off the pace.

(Editing by Clare Fallon)