Jan Ullrich insists there will not be an ounce of flab on him when the Tour de France starts today in Ireland.
What's more, the defending champion plans on making 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 3.5-mile time trial through downtown Dublin.
The 24-year-old German won last year's race in only his second attempt. Then came all the rounds of celebrations, and Ullrich's waistline expanded as the partying wore on.
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 Ireland's second city, 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 Saturday's time trial, which starts at Trinity College, passes Merrion Square and St. Stephen's Green, crosses the River Liffey and finishes in the capital's broad, statue-lined O'Connell Street.
While the Irish government aggressively courted the tour and predicts it will bring more than $45 million in tourist trade, downtown businesses complained about having access to their shops restricted on key shopping days in a city already full of tourists.
Declan Martin, economic director of Dublin's Chamber of Commerce, said the tour's two days in Dublin would cost businesses $7 million.
"There are severe problems of access, and we were told to take it or leave it," he said.
Some racers, in turn, complained that the Irish hadn't put up enough signs for them to identify Saturday's route.