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Ullrich wins Swiss tour TT
T-Mobile's Jan Ullrich, riding for the T-Mobile team, won the second stage of the Tour of Switzerland in Weinfelden on Sunday, a 36km time trial.
Ullrich, using a new bike, edged Australian duo Bradley McGee and Michael Rogers by 15 and 18 seconds respectively.
Many of the fans lining the course in this German-speaking canton of northern Switzerland were dressed in T-Mobile pink to show their support for Ullrich.
Bernhard Eisel, who won the opening stage on Saturday, finished well off the pace in Sunday's time trial.
"Naturally I'm happy. I was wondering if I'd be able to win as I'm still not at 100 percent," said the 31-year-old Ullrich after his first success of the year.
"I was riding my new time trial bike for the first time, it's a little lighter than the old one. Today I pushed myself to the limit to see how far I could go. This event is an important testt for me ahead of the tour de France."
It was the 31-year-old Ullrich's first win of the year.
Ullrich also insisted that Sunday's stage win would serve as a timely confidence boost ahead of the Tour de France.
"It's not the Tour de France here, but I wanted to bang something out," said Ullrich, the defending Tour of Switzerland champion. "I didn't go too bad at the start and I went all out."
QuickStep's Rogers, the reigning time trial world champion, did not start as well as Ullrich but finished strongly.
Monday's stage takes the peloton out of Switzerland and into the far-western mountains of Austria. The day's route will end at St. Anton am Arlberg, the picturesque ski town set at tree level near the imposing Arlberg Pass, and the home of Austrian skiing great Karl Schranz.
