Jan Ullrich said the best was yet to come ahead of next month's Tour de France after clinching overall victory in last week's Tour of Switzerland.

When the German T-Mobile captain lines up in Strasbourg on July 1 for the start of the Tour, he will be the only past winner of the event among the 189 riders in the peloton.

And the man who for years toiled in the shadow of seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong believes his narrow victory in Switzerland has set him up perfectly to add to his 1997 victory in the Grand Boucle.

"I think I was 90 percent fit," said Ullrich after winning the final day’s 30.7km time trial to overhaul leader Koldo Gil of Spain to snatch a second Tour of Switzerland crown.

"We climbed 22km of uneven ascents and I did a very good time trial. So I have every reason to be happy," said Ullrich. "I'm going to get the missing 10 percent before the start of the Tour. Two or three days of rest with the family, and to relax me mentally, and a week behind the motorbike to pick up the rhythm."

Ullrich's return to form could not be better timed with less than two weeks to go before the start of cycling's blue-ribbon event.

The five-time Tour runner-up, who in eight starts has never finished below fourth, raised eyebrows by beginning the competitive season less than two months ago after recovering from a knee injury.

In his first race back, Ullrich finished 115th out of 120 in Switzerland's six-day Tour of Romandie in April after struggling to make it to the end of each stage.

He again struggled to keep pace at last month's Giro d’Italia, but did hint at a return to something like his best form by winning the 11th-stage time trial before retiring two stages from the end of the race to protect a troublesome back.

Unsure which direction his preparations should take, the 32-year-old Ullrich seems to have nailed it by choosing the nine-day Tour of Switzerland.

The weather was on his side with hot, dry conditions giving him the best possible training conditions to prepare himself for the Tour's mountain stages, where he must keep pace with Giro winner and climbing specialist Ivan Basso (CSC).

Ullrich has only 34 days of competitive racing under his belt this season. But he shrugged off comments earlier this season from former Telekom teammate and 1996 Tour winner Bjarne Riis, director of Basso's CSC team, that he had left his preparations too late to seriously challenge for the Tour victory.

"I don't need to stick up photos of my adversaries to get motivated. Winning the Tour for the second time is my motivation," Ullrich said. "Proving my critics wrong is definitely satisfying, but it's not after a stage victory in the Giro or the Tour of Switzerland that you can respond. It's July 23, the end of the Tour (de France), where the accounts are settled."

Although less convincing in the mountains than Basso, former Olympic champion Ullrich is a far better time trialist and has an impressive record for consistency.

However, his worst ever Tour finish came in 2004, the same year he first won the Tour of Switzerland.

"I'm not superstitious," Ullrich said with a laugh. "No, I don't think I'm going to come fourth because I won the Tour of Switzerland. In 2004, I was fit but I fell ill in the first half of the Tour, which cost me dearly."