Ullrich good, but room for improvement

After finishing 18th overall at the Volta a Catalunya, T-Mobile captain Jan Ullrich is satisfied with his progress, but acknowledges he must now build on his current form in order to be competitive at the Tour de France, which begins less than six weeks from now.

"I have seen that I am in fairly good shape - but that there is also room for improvement," Ullrich said on t-mobile-team.com.

Directeur sportif Mario Kummer was also happy with their Spanish rider Francisco José Lara's performances at Catalunya. On the sixth stage to Pallejà, 'Paco' Lara was part of the successful 10-man breakaway, eventually placing seventh, and also finished the race 11th overall.

Ullrich will now head straight back into training mode for two weeks, before racing two back-to-back one-day races, the GP Schwarzwald on June 4 followed by the GP Aargau the following day. One week later, he will turn his attention to the Tour de Suisse, scheduled from June 11-19.

"Judging by how it went for me here, I can say that the training is Tuscany has proven fairly effective for me. I am quite happy and let's hope that I can continue building up my form in this manner," he said.