<DIV><img src=\"http://www.t-mobile-team.com/cms/tmoteam/en/tourdefrance/templateId=getHeadlineAsImage/mode=1/id=65300.png\"></DIV><DIV><DIV class=FlowTextImageLEFT><img src=\"http://www.t-mobile-team.com/cms/tmoteam/en/team/team2005/riders/property=blobBinary/id=58680.jpg\"> <DIV class=Bildlegende style=\"WIDTH: 160px\"><DIV class=comment>Jan Ullrich\'s Tour diary in association with Jan-Ullrich.de</DIV></DIV></DIV>16.07.2005/ Hi there,
I think you saw today that we went on full attack and rode to our limits. But, Lance again remained in control through today´s attacks, to which we can only congratulate him and say: \"respect.\"
Today´s breakfast was different to those in the Alps. It was very quiet, hardly anyone said anything, and when they did, they only got short answers. This was no bad sign, everyone was simply so focused. Everyone knew that today was the day. No matter what, we did not want to be left behind by Lance as happened at Courchevel. On the contrary, we wanted to expose him.
Today´s was a great team performance. First the escape from \"Nardo,\" who left early, to be able to help later in the mountains. Later, the attacksfrom Vino to isolate Lance. Everything worked really well. There were three of us on the last climb, he was alone. I rode to my limits, first with the help of Klödi and later alone. If the chance arose, I would be able to take Lance. In the end, in the last kilometre he was again the strongest. But, it was a great sporting battle and for that reason I´m pleased with my performance.
Now, we have another 130km transfer to Toulouse to deal with. Not what one really needs after such a day. That´s why I immediately went to the back of our team bus and put my feet up. Just to recover a little. Tomorrow, I naturally want to be fully recovered and hopefully put in a similar performance.