BELLINZONE, Switzerland, 20 June 2004 — Germany’s Jan Ullrich will get the chance to test his pre-Tour de France time trialling in the final stage of the Tour of Switzerland today — with overall victory in the race at stake.
Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner who will be Lance Armstrong’s main rival next month when the American saddles up for a record-setting sixth victory, has to overcome a 41-sec deficit to Swiss race leader Fabian Jeker in today’s 25.6km time trial around Lugano.
Yesterday World Cup champion Paolo Bettini, of the Quick Step team, won the eighth and penultimate stage here.
The 30-year-old Italian broke away to finish a hilly 191.3 km between Buchs and here ahead of Swiss Patrick Calcagni and up-and-coming Luxemburger Kim Kirchen.
Jeker meanwhile retained the overall lead which he welcomed with open arms on Friday when Ullrich struggled on the final, steep climb.
The Swiss even managed to steal nine seconds from Ullrich, who Jeker — after seeing the German climb most of the time on his larger chainring — admits wil be the favorite to take over the yellow jersey today.
“Jan wasn’t in top form today, but when you see how he rides over the climbs in the big chain ring, you start to wonder by how much he will devour the rest of us today,” said Jeker.
Bettini meanwhile claimed his first stage in this year’s race after joining a 15-man breakaway group at the 22km mark.
After the descent of the day’s main climb, the Col du Lukmanier, the diminutive Italian broke away with the eventual stage runner-up Calcagni, who rides for Vini Caldirola, and Italy’s Alessandro Cortinovis (Lampre).
Cortinovis soon lost contact with the front pair, and on the final climb Calcagni also dropped off Bettini, who went on to grab his fifth win of the season.
Bettini then announced he was retiring from the race and was due to fly back to Italy tonight.
