Wounded Knee Ends Ullrich's Tour Hopes

Jan Ullrich yesterday withdrew from this year's Tour de France, which starts in just over two months, due to a persistent knee injury. It will deprive Lance Armstrong of his principal adversary, making the Texan's bid this July to win the race for the fourth year running that much easier.

The German was runner up to Armstrong in 2000 and 2001, and last year he and his Deutsche Telekom team were the only meaningful opposition to the American. The absence of Ullrich, who won the 1997 race and finished second in 1996 and 1998, will mean that Armstrong will be the only former winner to start this year's race, unless the 1998 victor Marco Pantani miraculously finds form and earns a last-minute entry.

Ullrich's withdrawal is no surprise. When he announced in March that inflammation of muscle and bone in his right knee would cause him to forego racing until mid-May, that left little time to find the form to compete with Armstrong.

"We've taken the decision so that he [Ullrich] can have peace of mind about the situation," said a Deutsche Telekom's spokesman. This reflected concerns over Ullrich's ability to deal with the pressure of the tight deadline for his recovery, aroused last week when he was involved in a minor late-night accident in Fribourg while driving his Porsche 911 after drinking several glasses of wine. He failed to report the accident and had his licence confiscated.