Virenque Beats Ullrich at Finish

Richard Virenque of France won the 13-mile climb up to the Courchevel summit Sunday--with overall leader Jan Ullrich right behind--to win the 14th stage of the Tour de France.

As the pair pulled away from the others, they staged a one-on-one battle up the final climb. While Virenque showed the effort and applied the pace, Ullrich trailed closely behind. Ullrich calmly sat back, only occasionally standing up on his pedals.

At one point, Virenque asked the German to take over the pace-setting, but Ullrich politely refused, saying he didn’t want to work for Virenque.

In the final stretch, when it looked like Ullrich could go ahead whenever he wanted, Virenque applied a final sprint.

Fernando Escartin of Spain took third, less than a minute behind.

The other top names of the pack, including Italy’s Marco Pantani, who took Saturday’s l’Alpe d’Huez stage, were minutes behind.

Since Monday, Ullrich has taken two firsts, two seconds and a fourth to put the title--barring injury or mishap in the final week--virtually out of reach.

“I’m pleased that I was able to do well in the two big Alp stages,” Ullrich said. “I am happy I didn’t lose any time to Richard.”

In fact, he gained 40 seconds Saturday. In the overall standings, Ullrich still has a 6-minute 22-second lead over Virenque, who took his third stage of the race.

There are two more days in the Alps with four more mountains rated “first category” or “out of category” on a scale measuring height, steepness and difficulty.

There is another time trial around Disneyland Paris Saturday. The 21-stage race, covering 2,455 miles, ends Sunday on the Champs Elysees.