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'Rightful man' Ullrich concedes Tour de France to Armstrong
MULHOUSE, France (Reuters) -- Jan Ullrich admitted defeat in the Tour de France after a time-trial beating by Lance Armstrong on Friday and called the American the rightful Tour winner. Armstrong feels a second successive Tour de France victory would be even sweeter as it would silence critics who felt he won his first when the some of the best riders in the world were absent. "This Tour is more satisfying, it's definitely a vindication," said Armstrong, who led the German Ullrich comfortably with two days left in the world's showcase cycling event. On Friday, the German finished second, 25 seconds behind Armstrong, in the 58.5-km time-trial from Freiburg-im-Breisgau to Mulhouse. "What Armstrong did today is unbelievable," said 1997 Tour winner Ullrich, who is six minutes and two seconds behind the defending champion and looks destined for second place behind the American when the race ends on Sunday. "He is the rightful man in the yellow jersey." Two stages remain before the Tour reaches Paris but it would take a real disaster for Armstrong to lose. Long considered the best time-trial specialist in the field, Ullrich was unable to keep up with Armstrong's pace of nearly 54 kph. "I did my best and the huge crowd gave me a great morale but the best guy won," he said. The Telekom rider was cheered by hundreds of thousands of spectators near his home town of Freiburg and Tour organisers said between 1.5 and two million spectators were lining the roads of Germany. "The amount of spectators shows that cycling is becoming a strong force in Germany," Ullrich said. The German said he had had problems hearing his team director's instructions in his earphones and had been informed of time gaps only by the electric boards on the course. But he was quick to add that it was no explanation for his defeat. His point made, Armstrong now wants to race more than in the past two years. He has not made up his mind completely about the Syndey Olympics but he should be there. "I'm going to race a lot more, the San Sebastian classic, the Championship of Zurich. I propose to ride the Olympic time trial. I'm not going to the Vuelta," he said. "I might go in the Olympic road race to help [fellow American] George [Hincapie]. But it'll be a lottery. The world championships? I haven't decided, possibly the time trial but not the road race," he said.
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