Toulouse, July 20: Jan Ullrich battered Lance Armstrong's hopes of winning a record-equalling fifth Tour de France for the second day running on Saturday as the German closed to within 15 seconds of the race leader. Spain's Carlos Sastre won the 197.5 km 13th stage between Toulouse and the ski resort of Ax-3 Domaines, the first stage in the Pyrenees. But the battle for ultimate victory was being fought out just behind the CSC rider as Ullrich finished second, one minute one second off the pace, third-placed Spaniard Haimar Zubeldia came in two seconds further back and Armstrong finished fourth. Ullrich, a 1997 Tour winner who had utterly dominated his American rival in Friday's time trial, had complained of stomach problems at the start of the day. But he counter-attacked behind Alexander Vinokourov when the Kazakh surged away three kilometres from the finish and then raised the tempo again when the German noticed that Armstrong was struggling to follow him. The Texan refused to panic as his 34-second lead began to slip away and he fought to limit the damage, crossing the line seven seconds after his German rival. But Ullrich also collected a 12-second bonus for finishing second and slashed Armstrong's overall lead by half. The German remains second in the overall standings, with Vinokourov third, 1:01 adrift. The outcome will add further spice to Sunday's 191.5-km 14th stage from St Girons to Loudenvielle Le Louron, featuring six climbs, including four first category passes.


Despite finishing on the canvas for the second day in succession, Armstrong warned he was not knocked out yet. "It's hard, but I did not expect to have great legs today," said the Texan. "Yesterday's was a very hard effort and it was impossible to recuperate.


"There are two more days in the Pyrenees and other chances to attack."


But Ullrich has never looked so strong since 1998, when he held the race leader's yellow jersey for the last time. Sastre meanwhile had his day at last after finishing second last year in a mountain stage in La Plagne and coming 10th overall in the Tour.


"It's every rider's dream to win a Tour stage. I had been trying for a long time and now I have made it," said the Spaniard, who produced a baby pacifier when crossing the line in honour of his baby daughter.


Sastre made his move in the first big climb of the day, the Pailheres pass, and caught early breakaways in the climb to Ax-3 Domaines to earn a resounding victory.


"It's the greatest achievement in my career and if I pulled out a dummy at the end, it's because my wife and my daughter are the ones who helped me out in hard times," he said.


Leading placings in Saturday's 13th stage of the Tour de France cycle race over 197.5 km from Toulouse to Ax-3 Domaines: 1. Carlos Sastre (Spain) Team CSC in 5 hours 16 minutes 8 seconds 2. Jan Ullrich (Germany) Team Bianchi 1 minute 1 second behind 3. Haimar Zubeldia (Spain) Euskaltel 1:03 4. Lance Armstrong (U.S.) U.S. Postal Service 1:08 5. Alexander Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) Team Telekom 1:18 6. Ivan Basso (Italy) Fassa Bortolo 1:20 7. Juan Miguel Mercado (Spain) iBanesto.com 1:24 8. Iban Mayo (Spain) Euskaltel 1:59 9. Christophe Moreau (France) Credit Agricole 2:32 10. Tyler Hamilton (U.S.) Team CSC 2:34 11. Laurent Dufaux (Switzerland) Alesso 3:06 12. Francisco Mancebo (Spain) iBanesto.com 3:09 13. Richard Virenque (France) Quick Step 3:46 14. Georg Totschnig (Austria) Gerolsteiner 3:55 15. Didier Rous (France) Brioches 16. Manuel Beltran (Spain) U.S. Postal Service both same time 17. Patrice Halgand (France) Jean Delatour 4:11 18. Denis Menchov (Russia) iBanesto.com 4:14 19. Jose Luis Rubiera (Spain) U.S. Postal Service 4:50 20. Peter Luettenberger (Austria) Team CSC 5:58 21. Alexandre Botcharov (Russia) AG2R 6:22 22. Jorg Jaksche (Germany) ONCE same time 23. Felix Garcia Casas (Spain) Team Bianchi 7:22 24. Roberto Heras (Spain) U.S. Postal Service same time 25. Inigo Chaurreau (Spain) AG2R 8:50 26. Michael Boogerd (Netherlands) Rabobank 9:05 27. Roberto Laiseka (Spain) Euskaltel 28. Massimiliano Lelli (Italy) Cofidis both same time 29. Stephane Goubert (France) Jean Delatour 9:15 30. David Millar (Britain) Cofidis 9:38


Leading overall (yellow jersey) standings 1. Lance Armstrong (U.S.) U.S. Postal 55:34:01 2. Jan Ullrich (Germany) Team Bianchi 15 seconds behind 3. Alexander Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) Team Telekom 1:01 4. Haimar Zubeldia (Spain) Euskatel 4:16 5. Tyler Hamilton (U.S.) Team CSC 4:25 6. Iban Mayo (Spain) Euskatel 5:20 7. Ivan Basso (Italy) Fassa Bortolo 7:01 8. Francisco Mancebo (Spain) iBanesto.com 7:02 9. Carlos Sastre (Spain) Team CSC 8.47 10. Christophe Moreau (France) Credit Agricole 9:19 11. Denis Menchov (Russia) iBanesto.com 10:30 12. Georg Totschnig (Austria) Gerolsteiner 11:15 13. Manuel Beltran (Spain) U.S. Postal Service 11:57 14. Richard Virenque (France) Quick Step 14:25 15. Roberto Heras (Spain) U.S. Postal 14:38 16. Didier Rous (France) Brioches 16:23 17. Jorg Jaksche (Germany) ONCE 17:22 18. Roberto Laiseka (Spain) Euskatel 17:40 19. Peter Luettenberger (Austria) Team CSC 17:49 20. David Millar (Britain) Cofidis 18:04


Team points: 1. Team CSC 164:11:05 2. iBanesto.com 2 minutes 16 seconds behind 3. Euskatel 14:53 4. U.S. Postal Service 15:50 5. Team Bianchi 35:42


Bureau Report