Levi Leipheimer safely defended his leader’s jersey in Friday’s sixth stage, but he remains cautiously optimistic about his chances for overall victory with three stages left in the Tour of Germany.

Just a day after his dramatic victory in Thursday’s epic climbing stage high in the Austrian Alps, the Gerolsteiner rider says 1997 Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) remains dangerously close.

Leipheimer won 50 seconds ahead of Ullrich, pushing the race favorite into third overall at 56 seconds back going into this weekend’s action.

“Having 50 seconds’ advantage on Ullrich isn’t enough,” Leipheimer told Eurosport. “Especially before Monday’s time trial, which suits him really well.”

Friday’s 175km rolling sixth stage presented few challenges for Leipheimer, who had the motivated Gerolsteiner team protecting his flank. Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Caffita) won his second stage of this year’s German tour while Leipheimer held his lead.

Saturday’s 173km climbing stage present Leipheimer and Gerolsteiner teammate Georg Totschnig with another chance to increase their lead to Ullrich, with two category 1 climbs in the final 35km, including the summit finish to Feldberg. Sunday’s 31.1km final time trial over a mostly flat course favors Ullrich's time trialing superiority.

On Thursday, Gerolsteiner was hoping to spring Austrian rider Totschnig to victory on the grueling mountain roads in Austria. But Leipheimer was setting a blistering pace that put the hurt on everyone, including Totschnig.

“I looked over my shoulder and saw that Georg was no longer following me,” said Leipheimer. “But I had to take the most amount of time possible on Ullrich.”

Gerolsteiner team manager Hans-Michael Holczer said he had been hoping to see a Totschnig victory on home roads, and conceded that Ullrich is likely to displace Leipheimer as leader in Monday’s final time trial.

“Emotionally, I would have preferred it if Totschnig had won, but you must be rational in these situations,” Holczer said. “Levi has no chance in staying leader once Monday's individual time trial has been raced. In this area, Ullrich is by far the strongest.”

That remains to be seen, of course. Leipheimer rode very strongly at the Clásica San Sebastián last weekend and was obviously king of the hill Thursday. And as Ullrich said himself, Leipheimer is no slouch in the race against the clock.

Ullrich promises to keep fighting
Jan Ullrich, meanwhile remained optimistic about his chances to win the Tour de Germany. The T-Mobile captain’s performance Thursday kept him within striking distance.

“I’m absolutely happy about my performance. I didn’t expect to be among the top three, since I lost five days of training due to my cold,” said Ullrich post-race. “I have no idea who builds steep roads like these. You can hardly catch your breath on them.”

Ullrich surprised even himself by staying close to the attacking Gerolsteiner tandem on the long climb to Rettenbachferner, which ended at 2670 meters.

Ullrich said it was too early to count out the Gerolsteiner water boys.

“Levi is a good time trialist and Georg, too, is in good shape. I’m curious about the outcome of this race,” Ullrich said. “I will try to recover first, and then I’ll see what’s still possible.”

Julich fades as German tour hits hills

Bobby Julich, who started Thursday’s stage sitting fifth overall, dropped out of contention in the Tour of Germany when he couldn’t stay with the overall favorites on the final climb above Sölden. “This was not a good day for us. Bobby didn't have the legs at all. It was a cruel climb towards the finish, and if you're having an off day on that type of stage, you end up paying the price,” said Team CSC director Kim Andersen. “There are no excuses, now we have to abandon our ambitions about an overall victory and try for a comeback with a stage win.”

Piil stays with Riis
In other Team CSC news, the Danish squad announced a new contract with Jakob Piil for the 2006 season. The veteran, a winner of a stage in the Tour de France and the World Cup classic Paris-Tours, has been plagued with injuries throughout most of the 2005 season. Piil will race the Vuelta a España with hopes of winning a stage.

The team also announced that Danish national time trial champion Michael Blaudzun has extended his contract through the 2007 season.

Valverde back in action
Spanish phenom Alejandro Valverde (Illes Balears) will race in Sunday’s Clásica a los Puertos de Guadarrama in his return to competition since pulling out of this year’s Tour de France.

Valverde, who has already confirmed he will not race in the Vuelta later this month, hasn’t raced since on-going knee pain prompted his departure from the Tour de France just a few days following his dramatic victory in stage 10 to Courchevel.

The intense knee pain kept him from training effectively during most of August, forcing him to skip on the Vuelta. He’s still hoping to rebound in time to start the world championships in Madrid in late September.

Rider hit by car; Fofonov stays on
Tomas Vaitkus, a Lithuanian on the Ag2r team, was hospitalized after being hit by a car while on a training ride near Bergamo, Italy. He wasn’t seriously injured, but he’s not expected to race in scheduled events this weekend. … Kazakh rider Dimitri Fofonov, who was part of Cofidis this year, has signed a contract to join Crédit Agricole for two seasons.