By Ryan Brandt

May 7, 2002 Lance Armstrong's archrival, 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich, announced Monday that he would pull out of this year's Tour due to a knee injury. The German champion has battled knee problems for the past few months, returning to a regular training regimen just a few weeks ago. Yet the same nagging right knee pain has surfaced again and Ullrich says he's unable to compete.

"It doesn't make any sense for me to train more intensively, the pain keeps coming back," Ullrich said on the Deutsche Telekom team Web site.

This is the second time the 28-year-old rider has pulled out of the Tour due to injury since his 1997 victory. He also skipped the 1999 event.

Ullrich has placed second in the Tour four times—including the last two years in a row—and feels the frustration of another chance to knock Armstrong off the podium slip through his fingers.

"It's very, very annoying for me, because this year I came through the winter in better form than for a long time," he told the Associated Press.

Dan Osipow, director of operations for Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service Team said the Tour, which starts July 6 in Luxembourg, won't be the same without the Lance/Jan rivalry. "He and Lance have struck up a really great rivalry over the years, one all the fans of the sport have enjoyed watching. Every time a fit Jan Ullrich comes to the start line, he's a definite threat. Lance regards him as one the top performers out there."

And while Ullrich's withdrawal makes Armstrong's chances at a four-peat all the more likely, Osipow says the absence of the German star will profoundly change the nature of the event. "I really think there are only a handful of teams out there that actually think it's possible to win the yellow jersey when they step to the starting line. This takes that number down by one and will change the entire complexity of how the race is run."

But at least one thing will be exactly the same as the past two years.

"Lance will enter the race as the favorite—I think that much is obvious."