Ready or not Jan?

Reportedly weighing in at 75 kilos, three kilos over his fighting weight, Ullrich starts the Tour de Suisse with much to prove after a spring riddled with injury, and with less than a month to go until the start of the Grande Boucle.

"A good result is a key pointer to the Tour de France," Ullrich's T-Mobile sporting director Rudy Pevenage said.

"We're sending a strong squad, with ambitions for a top overall placing. We won the Tour de Suisse in 2003 with Alexandre Vinokourov and in 2004 with Jan."

Ullrich started his season late after a knee injury in training and retired from the Giro three stages from the finish line with back pains last month.

Though he won the long time-trial at the Tour of Italy, Ullrich did not show himself in the mountains against eventual victor and principal TDF rival Ivan Basso.

But Ullrich will finally be pressed to demonstrate his capabilities in several stages through the Swiss Alps, a crucial test for the mountain stages of the Tour de France, three weeks away.

"I have enjoyed success in this race in the past and feel very much at ease there", said the 32-year-old T-Mobile team captain.

"I live in Switzerland and so it's like I'm racing on home roads. I was originally planning to ride the Tour of Asturias race in Spain and then train in the Alps but racing more will get me in better shape."

Ullrich's support squad in Switzerland could be the best team at the nine-day stage race, including time-trial champion Michael Rogers, former Tour de France runner-up Andreas Kloden, Kim Kirchen, Patrik Sinkewitz, and Giuseppe Guerini all riding along-side Der Kaiser.

Only comparable is a strong Rabobank squad, which includes Tour de France King of the Mountains Michael Rasmussen, Juan Antonio Flecha, Michael Boogerd, and three time-world champion Oscar Freire.

It could very well be Freire's day in Saturday's opening stage, but the Spaniard will face heavy challenges from reigning world champion Tom Boonen, his Olympic champion team-mate Paolo Bettini, German Erik Zabel, and Australian Robbie McEwen.

The sprinters will be looking to see how well they survive the mountains to test for the TDF's green jersey contest, especially Boonen, who crashed out of the Grande Boucle last year while wearing green.

Saturday's opening stage, taking the peloton on a 154-km trip from Baden and back with three Cat. 3 climbs and one Cat. 4 along the way, should belong to one of the aforementioned sprint-kings.

Quick Step, Milram, Davitamon, and Rabobank should work well together to reign in any break-away attempts and set-up a sprint finale.