July 28, 1998: a drizzly day that every cycling enthusiast can still remember well. It was the 15th stage in the 1998 Tour de France that would normally be won by der kaiser Jan Ullrich. In 1996 he was second in his debut after his leader Bjarne Riis and in 1997 winner.<\/p>\n
It had to be a long period of supremacy, even the greatest, Eddy Merckx, had no doubts that der Jan would break his record of 5 Tour victories. After all, Jan Ullrich was only 23 years old when he won his 1st Tour de France in 1997.<\/p>\n
Nobody doubted that Ullrich would also win the 1998 Tour and this with great force majeure.<\/p>\n
However, that was without Marco Pantani counted. During the 15th stage, this great climber would make history in the mountain stage with start in Grenoble<\/a> and arrival at Les Deux Alpes. It was the king's stage over a distance of 189km with climbs of the Col de la Croix-De-Fer, Col du T\u00e9l\u00e9graphe, Col du Galibier and finally the Col Les Deux Alps.<\/p>\n That day it was really dog weather: it was freezing cold and it rained from the start. Jan Ullrich started the stage as leader with a 3-minute lead over Pantani who was then 4th in the general classification. Ullrich's team Team Deutsche Telekom controlled the race and the final was expected to erupt on the flanks of Les Deux Alps, but that was without Marco Pantani.<\/p>\n\n