1. Jan Ullrich (Ger) TEL 1.16.24 (avs. 43,193 km/h) 2. Richard Virenque (Fra) FES 3.04 3. Bjarne Riis (Dan) TEL 3.08 4. Abraham Olano (Spa) BAN 3.14 5. Marco Pantani (Ita) MER 3.42 6. Francesco Casagrande (Ita) SAE 3.56 7. Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) MAP 4.44 8. Zenon Jaskula (Pol) MAP 4.50 9. Beat Zberg (Swi) MER 5.00 10. Michael Boogerd (Ned) RAB 5.04 11. Jose Maria Jimenez (Spa) BAN 5.19 12. Fernando Escartin (Spa) KEL 5.23 13. Laurent Brochard (Fra) FES 5.34 14. Javier Pascual (Spa) KEL 5.35 15. Patrick Jonker (Aus) RAB 5.52 16. Erik Dekker (Ned) RAB 5.53 17. Oskar Camenzind (Swi) MAP 6.15 18. Thierry Gouvenou (Fra) BIG 6.22 19. Laurent Dufaux (Swi) FES 6.26 20. Jon Odriozola (Spa) BAT 6.35 21. Alberto Elli (Ita) CSO 6.35 22. Pascal Lino (Fra) BIG 6.35 23. Chris Boardman (G-B) GAN 6.45 24. Luc Leblanc (Fra) PLT 6.46 25. Angel Casero (Spa) BAN 6.47 26. Udo Bolts (Ger) TEL 6.52 27. Tyler Hamilton (USA) USP 6.54 28. Marco Fincato (Ita) ROS 6.59 29. Pascal Lance (Fra) BIG 7.05 30. Erik Breukink (Ned) RAB 7.08 31. Pascal Chanteur (Fra) CSO 7.11 32. Viatcheslav Djavanian (Rus) ROS 7.14 33. Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) USP 7.16 34. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONC 7.22 35. Alexandre Gontchenkov (Rus) ROS 7.25 36. Arturas Kasputis (Lit) CSO 7.30 37. Daniele Nardello (Ita) MAP 7.32 38. Philippe Gaumont (Fra) COF 7.34 39. Marcello Siboni (Ita) MER 7.35 40. Laurent Madouas (Fra) LOT 7.39 41. Jesper Skibby (Dan) TVM 7.40 42. Gianluca Pierobon (Ita) BAT 7.41 43. Georg Totschnig (Aut) TEL 7.43 44. Peter Luttenberger (Aut) RAB 7.45 45. Orlando Rodrigues (Por) BAN 7.46 46. Benont Salmon (Fra) LOT 7.47 47. Thierry Bourguignon (Fra) BIG 7.49 48. Roberto Sierra (Spa) ONC 7.53 49. Stephane Heulot (Fra) FDJ 7.55 50. Jens Heppner (Ger) TEL 7.57 51. Anthony Morin (Fra) BIG 8.09 52. Bobby Julich (USA) COF 8.10 53. Henk Vogels (Aus) GAN 8.12 54. Peter Farazijn (Bel) LOT 8.13 55. Laurent Genty (Fra) BIG 8.14 56. Pascal Herve (Fra) FES 8.14 57. Roberto Conti (Ita) MER 8.16 58. Christian Henn (Ger) TEL 8.18 59. Massimo Podenzana (Ita) MER 8.19 60. Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) TVM 8.20 61. Torsten Schmidt (Ger) ROS 8.25 62. Aitor Garmendia (Spa) ONC 8.27 63. Rolf Aldag (Ger) TEL 8.29 64. Didier Rous (Fra) FES 8.30 65. Maximilian Sciandri (G-B) FDJ 8.31 66. Giuseppe Guerini (Ita) PLT 8.32 67. Cyril Saugrain (Fra) COF 8.33 68. Erik Zabel (Ger) TEL 8.33 69. Inigo Cuesta (Spa) ONC 8.36 70. Javier Mauleon (Spa) ONC 8.36 71. Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) USP 8.36 72. Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita) SAE 8.37 73. Marco Artunghi (Ita) MER 8.41 74. Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) LOT 8.41 75. Marcelino Garcia (Spa) ONC 8.43 76. Peter Meinert (Dan) USP 8.47 77. Frangois Simon (Fra) GAN 8.51 78. Marino Alonso (Spa) BAN 8.55 79. Claude Lamour (Fra) MUT 8.56 80. Giorgio Furlan (Ita) SAE 8.56 81. Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) USP 9.01 82. Frankie Andreu (USA) COF 9.03 83. Stuart O'Grady (Aus) GAN 9.04 84. Jean-Philippe Dojwa (Fra) MUT 9.07 85. David Etxebarria (Spa) ONC 9.10 86. Davide Rebellin (Ita) FDJ 9.10 87. Andrea Peron (Ita) FDJ 9.11 88. Christophe Mengin (Fra) FDJ 9.12 89. Johan Museeuw (Bel) MAP 9.14 90. Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) SAE 9.22 91. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) FES 9.22 92. Daniele Sgnaolin (Ita) ROS 9.24 93. Rolf Sorensen (Dan) RAB 9.26 94. Jose Luis Arrieta (Spa) BAN 9.27 95. Manuel Beltran (Spa) BAN 9.32 96. Lauri Aus (Est) CSO 9.36 97. Andrea Tafi (Ita) MAP 9.36 98. Fabrice Gougot (Fra) CSO 9.38 99. Flavio Vanzella (Ita) FDJ 9.41 100. Jose Angel Vidal (Spa) KEL 9.41 101. Servais Knaven (Ned) TVM 9.45 102. Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) COF 9.49 103. Gerrit De Vries (Ned) PLT 9.53 104. Laurent Roux (Fra) TVM 9.53 105. Marco Saligari (Ita) CSO 9.55 106. Nicola Loda (Ita) MAG 9.56 107. Gilles Maignan (Fra) MUT 9.57 108. Mirco Crepaldi (Ita) PLT 10.02 109. Carlo Finco (Ita) MAG 10.05 110. Luca Scinto (Ita) MAG 10.06 111. Jo Planckaert (Bel) LOT 10.06 112. Wilfried Peeters (Bel) MAP 10.07 113. Ludovic Auger (Fra) BIG 10.10 114. Christophe Moreau (Fra) FES 10.12 115. Hernan Buenahora (Col) KEL 10.16 116. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) TVM 10.19 117. Eros Poli (Ita) GAN 10.22 118. Tristan Hoffman (Ned) TVM 10.22 119. Rolf Jaermann (Swi) CSO 10.23 120. Giuseppe Tartaggia (Ita) BAT 10.25 121. Marc Wauters (Bel) LOT 10.28 122. Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) TEL 10.29 123. Joona Laukka (Fin) FES 10.33 124. Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) CSO 10.36 125. Dominique Rault (Fra) MUT 10.38 126. Oscar Pellicioli (Ita) MER 10.41 127. Bruno Cenghialta (Ita) BAT 10.41 128. Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned) TVM 10.41 129. Andreo Tchmil (Ukr) LOT 10.42 130. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) MAG 10.43 131. Laurent Desbiens (Fra) COF 10.45 132. Francisco Cabello (Spa) KEL 10.53 133. Francisco Benitez (Spa) KEL 10.53 134. Marty Jemison (USA) USP 10.56 135. Jaime Gonzalez (Col) KEL 10.56 136. Matteo Tosatto (Ita) MAG 10.57 137. Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) PLT 10.57 138. Adriano Baffi (Ita) USP 10.57 139. Cedric Vasseur (Fra) GAN 10.59 140. Marco Zen (Ita) ROS 11.01 141. Fabio Baldato (Ita) MAG 11.04 142. Santiago Blanco (Spa) BAN 11.07 143. Bart Voskamp (Ned) TVM 11.12 144. Bo Hamburger (Dan) TVM 11.12 145. Christophe Rinero (Fra) COF 11.13 146. Neil Stephens (Aus) FES 11.15 147. George Hincapie (USA) USP 11.23 148. Frederic Guesdon (Fra) FDJ 11.26 149. Kevin Livingston (USA) COF 11.28 150. Gerard Rue (Fra) GAN 11.29 151. Giusvan Piovaccari (Ita) MER 11.30 152. Serguei Outschakov (Ukr) PLT 11.30 153. Dario Frigo (Ita) SAE 11.30 154. Pascal Derame (Fra) USP 11.45 155. Mikel Zarrabeitia (Spa) ONC 11.50 156. Jose de los Angeles (Spa) KEL 11.51 157. Frederic Moncassin (Fra) GAN 11.54 158. Miguel Arroyo (Mex) BIG 12.00 159. Nicola Minali (Ita) BAT 12.00 160. David Delrieu (Fra) MUT 12.10 161. Stephane Cueff (Fra) MUT 12.11 162. Robbie McEwen (Aus) RAB 12.16 163. Gianluca Valoti (Ita) PLT 12.17 164. Arnaud Pretot (Fra) GAN 12.19 165. Rossano Brasi (Ita) PLT 12.26 166. Paolo Fornaciari (Ita) SAE 12.46 167. Luca Colombo (Ita) BAT 13.08 168. Mauro Gianetti (Swi) FDJ 13.08 169. Mario Traversoni (Ita) MER 13.09 170. Francesco Frattini (Ita) BAT 13.23 171. Laurent Pillon (Fra) MUT 16.11 172. Philipp Buschor (Swi) SAE 24.01 Abandoned: Valentino Fois (Ita) MAP Did Not Start: Danny Nelissen (Ned) RAB Andreo Teteriuk (Kzk) LOT
1. Jan Ullrich (Ger) TEL 61.22.41 2. Richard Virenque (Fra) FES 5.42 3. Abraham Olano (Spa) BAN 8.00 4. Bjarne Riis (Dan) TEL 8.01 5. Marco Pantani (Ita) MER 9.11 6. Fernando Escartin (Spa) KEL 11.09 7. Francesco Casagrande (Ita) SAE 11.16 8. Laurent Dufaux (Swi) FES 12.28 9. Oskar Camenzind (Swi) MAP 13.15 10. Pascal Lino (Fra) BIG 14.16 11. Jose Maria Jimenez (Spa) BAN 14.52 12. Peter Luttenberger (Aut) RAB 15.47 13. Alberto Elli (Ita) CSO 17.16 14. Daniele Nardello (Ita) MAP 17.33 15. Beat Zberg (Swi) MER 17.47 16. Cedric Vasseur (Fra) GAN 18.30 17. Roberto Conti (Ita) MER 18.36 18. Laurent Madouas (Fra) LOT 19.58 19. Joona Laukka (Fin) FES 21.48 20. Frangois Simon (Fra) GAN 22.49 21. Marco Fincato (Ita) ROS 23.33 22. Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) USP 24.06 23. Manuel Beltran (Spa) BAN 24.10 24. Michael Boogerd (Ned) RAB 26.21 25. Christophe Moreau (Fra) FES 29.10 26. Hernan Buenahora (Col) KEL 29.13 27. Pascal Chanteur (Fra) CSO 29.25 28. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONC 31.54 29. Laurent Roux (Fra) TVM 32.52 30. Jean-Philippe Dojwa (Fra) MUT 34.33 31. Marcello Siboni (Ita) MER 34.33 32. Santiago Blanco (Spa) BAN 35.41 33. Stephane Heulot (Fra) FDJ 37.53 34. Laurent Brochard (Fra) FES 38.20 35. Kevin Livingston (USA) COF 38.33 36. Massimo Podenzana (Ita) MER 38.43 37. Peter Meinert (Dan) USP 38.51 38. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) FES 40.55 39. Bobby Julich (USA) COF 40.57 40. Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) USP 41.23 41. Thierry Bourguignon (Fra) BIG 46.15 42. Rolf Aldag (Ger) TEL 47.35 43. Didier Rous (Fra) FES 47.42 44. Jose de los Angeles (Spa) KEL 47.54 45. Udo Bolts (Ger) TEL 48.56 46. Peter Farazijn (Bel) LOT 50.27 47. Javier Pascual (Spa) KEL 51.29 48. Pascal Herve (Fra) FES 52.10 49. Georg Totschnig (Aut) TEL 52.27 50. Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) SAE 53.23 51. Erik Breukink (Ned) RAB 53.50 52. Orlando Rodrigues (Por) BAN 53.54 53. Fabrice Gougot (Fra) CSO 55.11 54. Oscar Pellicioli (Ita) MER 57.14 55. Angel Casero (Spa) BAN 57.18 56. Neil Stephens (Aus) FES 57.19 57. Jon Odriozola (Spa) BAT 57.42 58. Mikel Zarrabeitia (Spa) ONC 58.19 59. Marino Alonso (Spa) BAN 1.00.11 60. Andrea Peron (Ita) FDJ 1.00.28 61. David Delrieu (Fra) MUT 1.00.39 62. Benont Salmon (Fra) LOT 1.01.07 63. Bo Hamburger (Dan) TVM 1.03.06 64. Erik Zabel (Ger) TEL 1.06.53 65. Giuseppe Guerini (Ita) PLT 1.07.02 66. Tyler Hamilton (USA) USP 1.08.00 67. Giusvan Piovaccari (Ita) MER 1.08.06 68. Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) TVM 1.08.07 69. Davide Rebellin (Ita) FDJ 1.08.28 70. Andrea Tafi (Ita) MAP 1.08.45 71. Aitor Garmendia (Spa) ONC 1.08.57 72. Daniele Sgnaolin (Ita) ROS 1.09.47 73. Christophe Mengin (Fra) FDJ 1.09.53 74. Maximilian Sciandri (G-B) FDJ 1.10.25 75. Patrick Jonker (Aus) RAB 1.10.41 76. Marco Zen (Ita) ROS 1.10.55 77. Zenon Jaskula (Pol) MAP 1.10.56 78. Marty Jemison (USA) USP 1.11.12 79. Miguel Arroyo (Mex) BIG 1.12.28 80. Frankie Andreu (USA) COF 1.13.37 81. Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) MAP 1.14.32 82. Alexandre Gontchenkov (Rus) ROS 1.15.33 83. Giorgio Furlan (Ita) SAE 1.16.07 84. Jose Angel Vidal (Spa) KEL 1.16.14 85. Chris Boardman (G-B) GAN 1.17.27 86. Francisco Benitez (Spa) KEL 1.17.49 87. Rolf Sorensen (Dan) RAB 1.17.55 88. Inigo Cuesta (Spa) ONC 1.18.11 89. Jaime Gonzalez (Col) KEL 1.18.18 90. Arturas Kasputis (Lit) CSO 1.19.16 91. Claude Lamour (Fra) MUT 1.20.15 92. Erik Dekker (Ned) RAB 1.20.27 93. David Etxebarria (Spa) ONC 1.21.00 94. Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) USP 1.21.53 95. Jose Luis Arrieta (Spa) BAN 1.22.23 96. Bruno Cenghialta (Ita) BAT 1.23.38 97. Wilfried Peeters (Bel) MAP 1.24.20 98. Jens Heppner (Ger) TEL 1.24.25 99. Nicola Loda (Ita) MAG 1.24.58 100. Stuart O'Grady (Aus) GAN 1.25.08 101. Giuseppe Tartaggia (Ita) BAT 1.25.26 102. Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita) SAE 1.25.30 103. Luc Leblanc (Fra) PLT 1.25.56 104. Marco Artunghi (Ita) MER 1.26.31 105. Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) LOT 1.26.50 106. Henk Vogels (Aus) GAN 1.27.22 107. Javier Mauleon (Spa) ONC 1.27.50 108. Frederic Moncassin (Fra) GAN 1.28.03 109. Robbie McEwen (Aus) RAB 1.28.15 110. Anthony Morin (Fra) BIG 1.28.43 111. Andreo Tchmil (Ukr) LOT 1.29.10 112. Nicola Minali (Ita) BAT 1.29.19 113. Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned) TVM 1.29.36 114. Johan Museeuw (Bel) MAP 1.29.44 115. Mario Traversoni (Ita) MER 1.30.35 116. Pascal Lance (Fra) BIG 1.30.57 117. Roberto Sierra (Spa) ONC 1.31.29 118. Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) TEL 1.31.50 119. Adriano Baffi (Ita) USP 1.32.22 120. Mirco Crepaldi (Ita) PLT 1.32.22 121. Francisco Cabello (Spa) KEL 1.32.22 122. Gerard Rue (Fra) GAN 1.32.59 123. Arnaud Pretot (Fra) GAN 1.33.19 124. Dominique Rault (Fra) MUT 1.33.31 125. Laurent Desbiens (Fra) COF 1.33.38 126. Christian Henn (Ger) TEL 1.33.39 127. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) TVM 1.34.04 128. Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) PLT 1.34.39 129. Laurent Genty (Fra) BIG 1.35.33 130. George Hincapie (USA) USP 1.35.37 131. Gerrit De Vries (Ned) PLT 1.35.49 132. Jesper Skibby (Dan) TVM 1.35.50 133. Marcelino Garcia (Spa) ONC 1.36.13 134. Mauro Gianetti (Swi) FDJ 1.36.28 135. Servais Knaven (Ned) TVM 1.37.20 136. Frederic Guesdon (Fra) FDJ 1.37.24 137. Flavio Vanzella (Ita) FDJ 1.37.49 138. Lauri Aus (Est) CSO 1.37.57 139. Fabio Baldato (Ita) MAG 1.38.24 140. Rolf Jaermann (Swi) CSO 1.38.29 141. Thierry Gouvenou (Fra) BIG 1.39.09 142. Serguei Outschakov (Ukr) PLT 1.39.26 143. Dario Frigo (Ita) SAE 1.39.44 144. Tristan Hoffman (Ned) TVM 1.40.12 145. Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) CSO 1.40.16 146. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) MAG 1.40.32 147. Christophe Rinero (Fra) COF 1.40.43 148. Rossano Brasi (Ita) PLT 1.41.23 149. Pascal Derame (Fra) USP 1.41.58 150. Gianluca Valoti (Ita) PLT 1.45.05 151. Jo Planckaert (Bel) LOT 1.45.05 152. Carlo Finco (Ita) MAG 1.46.36 153. Luca Scinto (Ita) MAG 1.46.46 154. Francesco Frattini (Ita) BAT 1.46.56 155. Cyril Saugrain (Fra) COF 1.47.08 156. Matteo Tosatto (Ita) MAG 1.48.13 157. Bart Voskamp (Ned) TVM 1.48.17 158. Viatcheslav Djavanian (Rus) ROS 1.48.56 159. Eros Poli (Ita) GAN 1.49.25 160. Marc Wauters (Bel) LOT 1.49.51 161. Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) COF 1.52.09 162. Philipp Buschor (Swi) SAE 1.52.45 163. Marco Saligari (Ita) CSO 1.55.18 164. Laurent Pillon (Fra) MUT 1.56.57 165. Gilles Maignan (Fra) MUT 1.57.07 166. Stephane Cueff (Fra) MUT 1.57.07 167. Torsten Schmidt (Ger) ROS 1.58.36 168. Philippe Gaumont (Fra) COF 2.03.53 169. Paolo Fornaciari (Ita) SAE 2.13.18 170. Gianluca Pierobon (Ita) BAT 2.13.20 171. Ludovic Auger (Fra) BIG 2.19.40 172. Luca Colombo (Ita) BAT 2.23.41
The German, runner-up to Riis last year after a similarly impressive time trial outside Bordeaux, beat Richard Virenque of France by three minutes four seconds after having to change bikes because of a puncture.
Ullrich, covering the 55 km circuit around St Etienne in one hour 16 minutes 24 seconds, strengthened his grip on the race by extending his overall lead to 5:42 over Virenque.
The German, characteristically modest, said he had gone into the time trial unsure how he would fare. He said he was unsure which bike to choose in changing weather conditions that included rain at times.
``I wasn't sure what I could do in this particular stage,'' Ullrich said. ``It was very tough but I was lucky because I avoided the rain.''
``The coming days are going to be very hard and I don't want to talk about my chances before getting over the Alps.''
Ullrich overtook Virenque on the descent into St Etienne but the Frenchman, who on Thursday said he would be more than pleased if he was two minutes slower than his rival, reduced the deficit slightly with a brave final burst home.
Defending champion Bjarne Riis of Denmark was third, four seconds behind Virenque.
Spaniard Abraham Olano, fourth in the time trial, remained third overall but now eight minutes adrift of Ullrich with Riis one second further back.
Virenque, third overall last year, said: ``I managed to limit the damage. Now comes my terrain and I'm going to fight to the finish.''
The tough climb on the 1,200 metres Col de la Croix de Chaubouret halfway through the circuit, expected to favour the mountain specialists Virenque and Marco Pantani of Italy, is precisely where Ullrich shattered his rivals.
Superb in the climb, he translated a lead of seven seconds over Virenque and Olano at the 12.5 km mark into an advantage of 1:44 over Pantani and a remarkable 2:16 over Virenque, including the bike change just short of the summit.
Riis, who punctured after 13 km, was 2:22 behind his young team mate at the peak, where he changed bikes again for the descent.
Olano, who made a fast start, was level with Virenque after 12.5 km and nine seconds ahead of the Frenchman after the climb at 26.5 km, but he lost ground on the way back down to the finish.
Pantani was fifth, 3:42 behind Ullrich and stayed fifth overall.
Jan Ullrich remained disarmingly modest about his chances of winning the Tour de France on Friday despite extending his overall lead to more than five minutes in a devastating time trial.
But the young German was coming round to the reality of his achievements on only his second Tour, recognising that his rivals were probably right in saying that only a bad day for Ullrich would give them any hope of catching up.
``I'm very happy to have a big lead, but there are still nine long, hard days to come in the Alps before Paris,'' Ullrich said after winning the 12th stage time trial by three minutes four seconds over second-placed Richard Virenque of France.
``There is still a lot to fear both from my rivals and the conditions,'' added the 23-year-old German who was runner-up to Danish team mate Bjarne Riis in his first Tour in 1996.
``I hope I don't have a bad day (like in the Tour of Switzerland). But with the yellow jersey, I was quite relaxed 10 minutes before the start (of the time trial), although I did have my doubts and was unsure about the weather.''
Rain fell on the 55 km circuit around St Etienne during the time trial, but Ullrich was lucky to escape it.
``I think all the riders dislike rain because there is a greater risk of falling. I hope it stays dry in the mountains,'' he said as he looked ahead to Saturday's climb to Alpe d'Huez in the 13th stage.
Ullrich said that it was a great moment for him when he overtook Virenque, who had started out three minutes in front of him, near the end of the time trial.
``That was a very happy moment to pass a rival, since I had started three minutes behind him. It gave me more motivation, because I wanted to keep him behind,'' Ullrich said.
``It also helped to know I didn't need to take any risks in the rest of the time trial,'' added the German, who said he had no idea of his intermediate times until he caught Virenque.
Ullrich believes that to win the Tour a rider has to be good at all disciplines in the sport, but that it is preferable to be good in the climbs rather than the time trials because there are more mountain stages.
Not a mountain specialist, Ullrich nevertheless showed his power in climbing in the two stages he has won so decisively, on the uphill finish in Andorra in the 10th stage on Tuesday and the climb during Friday's time trial.
Ullrich covered the first 12.5 kms of the time trial seven seconds faster than Virenque and Spaniard Abraham Olano, who is third overall eight minutes behind.
But he went on to open a gap of more than two minutes over both rivals in the 14-km climb that followed. Italian Marco Pantani, a talented climber, was closest to Ullrich at that point 1:44 behind.
``After the Tour I shall be having a career review,'' the Briton, who won the prologue in Rouen 12 days ago, said on Thursday.
``I'm good enough for one-day rides and smaller stage races, but the big tours seem beyond me,'' added Boardman, who in 1994 held the yellow jersey for three days.
``The review is not necessarily going to be as drastic as it sounds, but I have to get people around me to accept I can do it.''
Boardman's successes, including Olympic gold in the individual pursuit at the Barcelona Games in 1992, have meant pressure has been put on the 28-year-old Briton to go one step further and achieve something bigger each time.
He succeeded three times Tour winner Greg LeMond as team leader at Gan, but now feels that he would be better off as number two or three.
Boardman's fourth Tour began well only to run into trouble in the Pyrenees on Monday when he tumbled from third overall after a fall descending from the first climb on the first mountain stage.
He twisted his neck but he has recovered to the point where he feels confident of a good time in Friday's time trial at St Etienne following the tour rest day on Thursday.
``I'm dead set on reaching Paris,'' he said.
Boardman pulled out in 1994 after 11 days, fell badly in the 1995 prologue fracturing a wrist and ankle but went all the way in 1996 although he suffered intestinal pains in Pamplona.