Pantani wins again; Julich hangs with big guns to finish sixth
By Andrew Hood
Outside Online correspondent

Marco Pantani

Race leader Jan Ullrich (Telekom) retained the overall lead by finishing third with rival Richard Virenque (Festina), who crossed the line second, 1’17” behind Pantani.

Julich’s strong climb up the beyond-category Col de Joux Plane caps an impressive string of stages through the French Alps for the 26-year-old American riding in his first Tour. After losing more than 20 minutes in the first climbing stage of the Pyrenees last week, Julich’s form is back, and now the Colorado native is the top-ranked American at 19th in the overall standings.

"It was just a perfect opportunity for me. I was able to hang with them when they attacked until Pantani went," said Julich, who finished 1’59” behind Pantani. "I caught Riis on the descent and I’m real happy to finish sixth."

When the peloton hit the steep, narrow col 20 kilometers from the finish, Julich stayed with the strongest climbers in the world up 7 miles of grinding, 9-percent grades. He rode with the lead attack group of Ullrich, Pantani, Riis, and Fernando Escartin (Kelme), hanging with them until Pantani made his stage-winning attack, and Ullrich and Virenque accelerated.

Pantani won the 15th stage with no competitors in sight (729k avi)

"I’m here like a sponge, absorbing all of these experiences. Hopefully I can come back and follow in the footsteps of Greg Lemond, Andy Hampsten, and Lance Armstrong and win a stage," said Julich, who posted the best American performance of last year’s "grand Tours" with ninth at the Vuelta España.

Julich is among six Americans making a strong show in this year’s Tour. Cofidis teammates Kevin Livingston and Frankie Andreu and U.S. Postal’s Marty Jemison, George Hincapie, and Tyler Hamilton are all on track to arrive in Paris when the three-week Tour ends July 27.

With the absence of star Lance Armstrong, the Americans are all bucking to get a stage win, and throughout the Tour, Americans on both teams have been active. Andreu, racing in his sixth Tour, finished eighth at Perpignan; Livingston was 15th at the Arcalis stage in Andorra and made an attack in today’s stage; Hincapie and Jemison have been active in breakaways early in the Tour, and Hamilton posted a top-30 result at the Tour’s Saint Etienne time trial.

"To be here is the dream of any professional. It would be like being a football player and never going to the Super Bowl. I’ve raced against most of these guys in other races, but this is the elite of the sport," said U.S. Postal’s Jemison, 32, also racing in his first Tour.

Richard Virenque and Jan Ullrich battled for second place (760k avi)

"It’s going really well. I had some strong climbing stages and I hope to try to make something happen in the Alps," Livingston said. In today’s early break, he built a small 30-second gap, but couldn’t shake the peloton coming into the final climb.

"Today, I had gone back to the team car and Cyrille (Guimard, the team’s director sportif) said if a break went, pay attention and go with it. I went out with Peron and I was hoping to get two minutes going into the final climb. When we were out, it was obvious they were chasing us and we knew it wasn’t going to work."

Tuesday’s stage rolled through the awesome scenery of France’s high mountains. Early in the stage, riders missed the breathtaking views of Mont Blanc and other snow-capped peaks when ONCE’s Laurent Jalabert attacked at the first of six climbs in the stage.

Jalabert built up a three-minute lead before being swallowed up by the peloton coming off the Col de la Colombiere 65 kilometers from the finish.

Coming into the final climb, the strongest climbers quickly pulled away from the field. Within 2 kilometers, it was Julich with the big boys.

"With the last three stages, I’m really happy with how I’m riding," he said. "Over the past few days I’m feeling so good it makes you wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t lost all that time early on, but that’s the Tour."

Pantani, who nearly didn’t start today’s stage after suffering with a cold, made his trademark early attack on the climb, pulling nearly one minute ahead of Virenque and Ullrich at the summit of the col.

"Yesterday I felt lousy, but I only lost three minutes. I was very bad last night. I could barely sleep and I didn’t want to start today, but my director sportif told me I must ride to Paris," said Pantani, who won the L’Alpe d’Huez stage Saturday. "Today I didn’t feel so bad and I made my attack."

With Telekom's Riis finishing eighth at 2’06” back, Pantani moves into third overall.

Virenque tried to pull away from Ullrich, but the young German stayed on the wheel of his second-place rival up the entire col and the pair finished 2-3 in Morzine.

The Tour exits the Alps in Wednesday’s 16th stage and heads into Switzerland, 181 kms (109 miles) from Morzine to Friboug, Switzerland.

Stage 15 results

Andrew Hood is Outside Online's European cycling correspondent.