By Hedwig Kröner in Mulhouse
The fortunes of T-Mobile turned quickly today when Jan Ullrich, designated race captain, crashed on the descent of the very first climb on his way to Mulhouse. "I was on a pretty sharp twist of the road, doing about 60 km/h, when I caught a gust of wind which brought me to the right hand side," Ullrich related post-stage. "So I went off into this ditch and somersaulted three or four times. I have a couple of bruises but I'm fine." Team doctor Lothar Heinrich is also "95 percent" sure that Ullrich has suffered no broken bones, but will nevertheless take the 31 year-old to hospital for x-rays.
Ullrich was brought back by his teammates after the crash, and it appears that Lance Armstrong's group also slowed to for him to be able to come back. The two rivals then courteously exchanged some words on the finish line. "We said we'll see each other after tomorrow, and I told him to enjoy the rest day, which he also wished to me," Ullrich said. "Other than that, I think Discovery rode really well today. And Jens Voigt got the jersey - he's one of the friendliest guys in the peloton so I'm happy for him. I don't think he'll be someone for the General Classification in Paris, but he always attacks, always fights, and today he did it again and got rewarded with the yellow. He deserves it."
Asked how he would spend his rest day, Der Kaiser replied, "I'm looking forward to the rest day to recover from my crash. Of course I'll train a little bit, too, but mainly try to recover from my wounds. That rest day comes in handy."
