Ullrich eats into Armstrong lead

Jan Ullrich of Germany made further inroads into the overall leadership of Lance Armstrong in a centenary Tour de France which is shaping up to be one of the closest in history.

Ullrich had taken a minute and 36 seconds off the Texan’s lead in his blistering victory in yesterday’s time-trial, and he pressed home the advantage in the 13th stage today, a 197.5km run from Toulouse to Ax in the Pyrenees.

In a stage won by Spain’s Carlos Sastre, 1997 Tour champion Ullrich produced a devastating late sprint to put distance between himself and Armstrong and at one point threaten to take the leader’s yellow jersey.

-Armstrong trailed in fourth on the stage, behind Sastre, Ullrich and third-placed Haimar Zulbeldia of Spain, but he managed to cut his losses to the German to seven seconds plus the 12 bonus seconds Ullrich earned for finishing second on the day.

That means the Texan has a slender 15-second lead as he continues his bid for a record-equalling fifth Tour win with Ullrich looking to repeat his success which was achieved while the American was stricken with cancer.

Armstrong, whose run of wins began in 1999, made no attempt to disguise the fact that he is under real pressure.

“Now I know I am really in a race,” said Armstrong to French TV after the race. “That was really tough.

“But there is still time for me to win this race.”

Not to be discounted is Kazakhstan’s Alexander Vinokourov who is in third overall and is just 1:01 behind the Texan in the overall standings after finishing fifth on the day.

Otherwise the rest of the peloton look to have their work cut out if they are to be crowned on the Champs Elysees on July 27, with fourth-placed Zubeldia some 4:16 adrift of the leader.

Ullrich’s renaissance this year is all the more remarkable as he only got a ride with the hastily re-assembled Team Bianchi when his new Team Coast outfit folded.

Bianchi, the historic Italian bike manufacturers whose sky-blue colours are associated with late Tour hero Fausto Coppi, do not have the strength in depth of Armstrong’s US Postal team.

But the German seems to get stronger as the race goes on.

Ullrich had four times finished runner-up in the Tour with former team Telekom, twice to Armstrong, once to Italian Marco Pantani and once in 1996 to his Danish team-mate Bjarne Riis from whose shadow he emerged to win the following season.

Riis is now in charge of the CSC team whose lead rider Tyler Hamilton of the United States lies fifth overall despite racing with a broken collarbone sustained in the pile-up at the end of the first stage.

It was Hamilton’s team-mate Sastre who triumphed on the day after featuring in a three-man breakaway before striking out on his own.

He vowed to return to his usual duty as a ‘domestique’ (literally servant) to Hamilton when the race resumes tomorrow.

“It’s been a long day, a memorable day,” said the 28-year-old Spaniard whose victory is the highlight of his career.

“But I’ll have to start all over again on Sunday and I will be helping Tyler.”

Britain’s David Millar, who has had a stomach bug, finished 30th on the day and has slipped to 20th overall, 18:04 behind Armstrong.