August 1/98 11:29 am - Ullrich Takes Stage, Pantani Third

Posted by Editor on 08/1/98
 

Ullrich Moves Into Second Place

As expected, Jan Ullrich (Telekom) won the 20th stage of the Tour today - a 52 kilometre time trial from Montceau-les-Mines to Le Creusot. His time of 1:03:52 was 1:01 ahead of Bobby Julich (Cofidis), who has dropped from second to third overall, and 2:35 ahead of Marco Pantani (Mercatone Uno), who has now effectively wrapped up his Tour victory. As the last riders were racing, rain began to fall again, which certainly hindered Ullrich‚s ability to take even more time out of Pantani. The strength of these three riders is evident, since they set the three fastest times of the day.