Jan Ullrich on Tour form

On Sunday I was able to watch my first Cyclysm on OLN, and it turned into a good race to catch as it was the final stage of the Tour de Suisse. The final ninth stage was a 30k individual time-trial, and of all the early season racing this day would be the biggest moment of truth for Jan Ullrich. This discipline is Ullrich's forte, but the media tends to cloud our perception of the German with reports of his weight problems and lack of focus.

Ullrich proved he was up to the challenge. He began the day in third place overall at 50 seconds down to leader Koldo Gil Perez of Saunier Duval. Ullrich ended up winning the time-trial and putting enough time into Perez to win overall by 24 seconds. Cadel Evans had a good time-trial to finish only 23 seconds back on the day to Ullrich, but Cadel didn't have to race in the rain as Ullrich had to do.

Ullrich looked fit, strong, and racing to win despite the rainy conditions. Hopefully he can carry this form into the start of the Tour de France which starts in two weeks. If you read the Velonews article you can see this victory has definitely motivated Ullrich and given him much needed confidence.

It's hard for me to believe that Ivan Basso will be fresh and on form in July after winning the Giro in May. I see this year's Tour de France as the most wide open since the mid-90s, but in my view Ullrich has to be considered the favorite.

Read the race report HERE from Velonews.