July 26, 1997
MARNE LA VALLEE, France -- Jan Ullrich all but assured himself of becoming the first German to win the Tour de France by finishing second in the final time trial Saturday.
Ullrich expended his lead to more than nine minutes over Richard Virenque of France in the overall standings.
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| Jan Ullrich finished second in Saturday's 20th stage, expanding his lead to more than 9 minutes. (Reuters) |
HE HAS BEEN WEARING THE LEADER'S yellow jersey since the 10th stage of the 21-stage race that began on July 5 in Rouen.
"The essential thing was just to hold onto to the yellow jersey," Ullrich said. "I am a bit tired. Not only from the Tour but also the demands outside it."
The tour ends Sunday with a largely ceremonial leg of 99 1/2 miles from Disneyland to Paris and 10 rides up and down the Champs Elysees.
Abraham Olano of Spain won the time trial with a clocking of 1 hour, 15 minutes, 57 seconds for the 39-mile loop around Disneyland Paris and beat Ullrich by 45 seconds.
However, Olano trailed Ullrich in the overall standings by more than 16 minutes entering the day.
Marco Pantani of Italy was in third in the overall standings, more than 14 minutes behind. Olano moved into fourth, 15:55 behind.
Ullrich seemed to be the only constant factor in this year's Tour de France that was marked by spills, controversial sprints and withdrawals due to injuries.
