Ullrich stung on climb; falls to 3rd in Suisse

Procycling | Ullrich loses lead to Jeker, Totschnig takes stage

Today's stage in Switzerland ended with a climb of about 8 miles, where Jan Ullrich expected an attack by climbing specialists.

He got what he expected, as Gerolsteiner's Georg Totschnig took the stage, 7 seconds up on Switzerland's Fabian Jeker, with Ullrich 39 seconds back for the day.

Ullrich falls to third overall, 32 seconds back of Jeker, and 24 seconds behind Totschnig.

Saturday's stage climbs to the Lukmanier pass with 71 kilometers left to ride. It's unlikely Ullrich will let anyone threatening take a breakaway over the pass, and he'll likely be able to bring back any time the climbers get on the pass during the last part of the stage.

If it works out that way, Ullrich will just need to put a half-minute into the two riders ahead of him in Sunday's 24.5-km time trial to take the GC for the overall tour.