ARCALIS, Andorra -- Jan Ullrich of Germany won a mountainous stage of the Tour de France today and took over the overall lead in the cycling classic.

Ullrich captured the stage from Luchon, France to Arcalis, Andorra by more than a minute over Marco Pantini of Italy and Richard Virenque. The leg had six major climbs and lasted more than 7 hours, 46 minutes.

CEDRIC VASSEUR OF FRANCE, who had been in the lead for the last few days, finished almost eight minutes back today and lost the yellow jersey.

Ullrich now has a 2:38 lead over Virenque. Abraham Olano is third.

His victory made the 23-year-old German one of the favorites to win the race which ends in Paris July 27. He finished second last year.