Cycling: Concern Over Ullrich Fitness for Tour

Lance Armstrong's principal rival Jan Ullrich is currently unable to race because he lacks fitness, but his German team T-Mobile yesterday denied there was any panic about his chances of denying the Texan a record sixth Tour de France victory this summer.

"There is no drama, no crisis. It is an uncomfortable situation; we have to cope with it and we will cope with it," the team spokesman Luuc Eisenga said yesterday. But with only 10 weeks to go before the race starts, the contrast between Ullrich's struggles and Armstrong's effervescent fitness is glaring.

Over the weekend the Texan took the overall title in the Tour of Georgia, winning two stages along the way to take his victory tally this year to four. For a man who was felt to be in decline at last year's Tour, which he did not take in his customary dominant style, he looks in fine form.

Ullrich, by contrast, had to withdraw from two events last week, the Amstel Gold and Liège-Bastogne-Liège World Cup races, because he was not considered fit enough to gain any benefit from competing. Oddly, he had written on his internet site earlier in the week: "I feel better and better and am in total harmony with my objectives."

He also abandoned the midweek classic Flèche Wallonne after 100 kilometres, saying: "It was too hard, given my current form. Every kilometre felt hard." He will not contest Germany's biggest spring event, this Saturday's grand prix of Frankfurt.

"Obviously the form of a Tour contender is always a concern, but that's different from it being a worry," said Eisenga. "We would have loved for him to ride one or two classics but we have to live with what we have got. We are not worried about the Tour de France."

"I probably underestimated the fact that I'm another year older," said Ullrich, 30. "Or I overestimated my body. The amount of effort it takes to ride continues to increase. That's what I've learned this spring."

In America, Armstrong must have followed the weekend's racing with interest. Though Ullrich is below par and the 2002 Tour runner-up Joseba Beloki is struggling to regain fitness after his crash last year, two other dangermen are looking good; Alexandre Vinokourov, who finished third last year, was a close third in Liège on Sunday, and Tyler Hamilton, fourth in 2003, was also in the frame.

Ullrich's fight to gain fitness for the Tour de France is as much a part of the cycling spring as leaves on the trees and long evenings. Since taking his only Tour win in 1997 he has gauged his build-up to the Tour correctly only once, last year, when he pushed Armstrong to the final weekend and lost by barely a minute.

In 1998, 2000 and 2001 he had to engage in a desperate battle to find fitness and lose weight, and this year looks like being the same: he is currently ensconced in his home in Switzerland with his personal manager Rudy Pevenage and training for his next race at the end of May.

Ullrich's travails have prompted regular criticism within the cycling world. Eddy Merckx, the sport's nonpareil in the early 1970s, commented: "As usual he is clearly a few kilos overweight and has not worked hard enough."

For T-Mobile, who as Telekom have guided Ullrich since he turned professional in 1995, there is, as well as deja vu, a sense of business as usual. "Jan is a different kind of rider compared to Lance," said Eisenga. "He has experienced this kind of situation in the past and has coped well. We are confident he will be ready for the Tour."