Ullrich Wins Stage, Takes Lead In Tour

Jan Ullrich of Germany beat everyone else up the mountain to win Tuesday’s 10th stage of the Tour de France and took the overall lead in the cycling race.

“It’s a dream for me to wear the yellow jersey,” said Ullrich. “My first memory of the Tour was watching television at home. I saw Greg LeMond in yellow. I said to myself that I could never be as good as him.”

At 23, he got to wear the leader’s yellow jersey at an earlier age than LeMond was when he took the lead for first time in 1986.

Ullrich won 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.

Ullrich now has a 2:38 lead over Virenque in the overall standings. Abraham Olano of Spain was third.

Cedric Vasseur of France, who had been in the lead for the last few days, finished nearly eight minutes back and had to give the jersey to Ullrich.