He’s a Lean, Mean Cycling Machine

Jan Ullrich insists there won’t be an ounce of flab on him when the Tour de France starts today in Ireland.

What’s more, the defending champion plans to make a fashion statement when cycling’s showcase race ends in Paris on Aug. 2: a yellow jersey.

Ullrich will wear the winner’s symbol when he starts last among the 189 competitors in the opening 3 1/2-mile time trial through downtown Dublin.

Ullrich, a 24-year-old German, won last year’s race in only his second try. Then came all the rounds of celebrations.

After winning the tour at 173 pounds, his weight climbed to 210 in January. He says slimming down was no problem.

“My weight is all right now.” he said. “I will not have one kilogram more than at the same time last year.”

Ullrich doesn’t have to look far to see his competition. The 1996 tour winner, Bjarne Riis, is a colleague on the Deutsche Telekom team.

The first two stages Sunday and Monday will take the cyclists 237 miles from Dublin and through the Wicklow Mountains to Cork. By then, it should be clearer whether Ullrich or Riis is Telekom’s No. 1 rider.

Alex Zuelle of Switzerland, a potential winner from the French Festina team, predicts Ullrich will be “attacked from all sides to see if he has weakened” during the 2,393-mile race.

The heart of a normally congested Dublin was shut down Friday to permit the racers to explore the route of today’s time trial.

While the Irish government aggressively courted the tour and predicts it will bring more than $45 million in tourist trade, downtown businesses complained about access to their shops being restricted on key shopping days in a city already full of tourists.

Some racers, in turn, complained that the Irish hadn’t put up enough signs for them to identify today’s route.

Zuelle, who led much of this year’s Tour of Italy before taking ill and dropping out, says he is in “possibly the worst shape” of his professional career. But he noted that he often does well after being sick.

The only American-sponsored team among the 21 in the race arrived in Dublin determined only to have a rider win one of the 21 stages.

The U.S. Postal Service team is led by U.S. national champion George Hincapie, who finished 104th in last year’s tour.

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Tour de France

A 22-day, 2,392-mile stage race with prologue and 21 stages.

* When: Today-Aug. 2

* Where: Historic beginning in Ireland (prologue and first two stages), continuing in France.

* Defending champion: Jan Ullrich, Germany.

* Challengers: Richard Virenque, France; Marco Pantani, Italy; Bjarne Riis, Denmark; Abraham Olano, Spain; Laurent Jalabert, France; Yevgeny Berzin, Russia; Alex Zuelle, Switzerland.