Armstrong hunting victory to take into Tour
Lance Armstrong has admitted that his bid for a seventh consecutive yellow jersey on his final Tour de France in July could come unstuck by his recent lack of racing and victories.

This week, Armstrong will race the Dauphiné Libéré, which with the June 11-19 Tour of Switzerland is a crucial warm-up before the three-week Tour. In either race, contenders for victory in July usually find out exactly where their form lies.

Armstrong, however, has not had the sort of pre-Tour season he would have hoped for. He left Paris-Nice early in March due to illness and finished fifth at April’s Tour de Georgia, won by Discovery Channel teammate Tom Danielson.

More important, Armstrong's lack of wins ahead of the Tour this year has prompted rumors about his motivation. And the 33-year-old Texan seemed genuine when he said that rival Jan Ullrich, Germany's 1997 winner and five-time runner-up, is looking stronger than ever.

On the eve of the Dauphiné's 7.9km prologue time trial in Aix-Les-Bains, when reporters asked about his form, Armstrong replied: "It's tough to say where it is at the moment. The last race I did was in Georgia, and apart from that I've just been training a lot.

"But it's tough to say without (doing) the Dauphiné. We'll take it day by day and we'll see. I hope I can find some success in the next eight days, but starting the Tour de France without a victory for the first time in seven years would be weird."

Over the past six years, Armstrong has dominated the Tour to such an extent that some have felt Ullrich would have to wait for his retirement to have any chance of winning. This year, Ullrich may have a chance of hitting the jackpot. Or is Armstrong just bluffing, as he has been known to do?

Last year, Ullrich finished fourth overall - his first finish off the podium - as teammate Andreas Klöden beat Italian Ivan Basso into the runner-up spot. This season, Klöden has been quiet while CSC’s Basso took the overall lead at the recent Giro d’Italia, only to lose it in the mountains when he suffered a debilitating bout of gastroenteritis.

"If you look at (Basso’s) performance in the Tour of Italy, you can see he's more dangerous than ever because he's improved a lot in the time trial, his position is better and the speed at which he was riding was incredible,” said Armstrong. "He's changed as a rider and as an athlete."

Armstrong, however, still feels that Ullrich's team will be his biggest threat in July.

"I think he (Ullrich) is ahead of schedule this year - and looking at the reports I would say their team is back and stronger than ever. Clearly, Jan is the team leader, but what makes them dangerous is the combination of the three. Klöden and Jan are riding better, and Vino’ (Alexandre Vinokourov) is the same as ever - so there's a potential triple threat.

“I don't think we'll see Jan Ullrich finishing off the podium this year.”

Whatever happens, Armstrong wants to race to win in his final Tour de France - and enjoy it.

"I can't lie. When I roll down the start ramp my intention is to win. But I think you can do both - enjoy your last Tour de France and still win. But I would be lying if I said I was going there without thinking of winning the overall."

Wegmann wins GP Schwarzwald; Ullrich fifth
Germany's Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner) won the Grand Prix Schwarzwald on Saturday.

Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile), the only German ever to win the Tour de France, finished in fifth place, more than three minutes off the pace with the main peloton on the 162.4km course around the southwestern town of Triberg, Germany.

"I'm still not 100 percent, but there are still four weeks to the Tour," said the 31-year-old Ullrich.

Wegmann, 24, finished 50 seconds ahead of Italian Fortunato Babiani (Ceramica Panaria), who was 10 seconds up on German Jorg Ludewig (Domina Vacanze).