Barring acts of God, Jan Ullrich is now set to win this Tour de France. But for all his six-minute lead over Richard Virenque, he has not looked the part of a completely secure race leader since the little Frenchman put him under pressure for 50 miles in the Alps on Sunday.

This is probably because, at just 23, he has yet to master the art of bluffing his way through a bad day, or a bad moment on a good day. The five-time

Tour winner, Miguel Indurain, owed much of his reputation for impregnability to his inscrutable face.

Ullrich does not exactly wear his heart upon his sleeve for daws to peck at, but Virenque and his fellow climber Marco Pantani can read the level of lactic acid in his legs by looking at his gingery bearded face.

After he was put under pressure on Tuesday's final Alpine ascent he admitted that he was suffering from a cold, and was not feeling too hot. Such frankness is extremely unwise, and was an open invitation for the climbers to keep trying.

Even though the four second category climbs on the menu yesterday in the

Vosges were small fry compared to the Alpine cols of last weekend, they offered a final chance for the mountain men to test Ullrich, and they duly did so.

Ullrich was in trouble on the first climb, the Col de Gueberschwir, and again on the longer, steeper climb to the Grand Ballon. This is the heart of Alsatian wine country, home to the finest Sylvaner, Riesling and Gewurztraminer, but the roads were, in cycling parlance, "heavy", with continual small climbs offering few opportunities to recover, and the dull heat in the thick pine forests did little to help.

The efforts Ullrich made each time to regain contact with Virenque, Pantani and their teammates finally told on the three-and-a-half mile long Col du

Hundsruck, where Virenque's men finally managed to dislodge the young German.

His face was a mask of pain as he attempted to follow his only remaining domestique, Udo Bolts.

By the foot of the descent from the Hundsruck, Virenque had opened up a gap of 43 seconds on Ullrich. With him were all the other riders in the top six:

Pantani, the Spaniards Fernando Escartin and Abraham Olano, and the Italian

Francesco Casagrande.

Ironically, it was the quality of the lead group that was to prove its undoing, as Virenque's companions realised that if they cooperated in attempting to leave Ullrich behind, the only one of their number who would benefit substantially would be the Frenchman. Virenque could only yell and gesticulate at Olano and Pantani, vainly attempting to persuade them to offer some assistance as Ullrich caught up.

"Ullrich had cracked several times, but the other leaders wouldn't give me any help. They're quite happy to be third or fourth or fifth," he said bitterly.

Their attitude was summed up by Olano's manager, who commented simply: "It was

Virenque's war."

Virenque is reported to be demoralised by the imminent arrival of Alex Zulle from ONCE, which will threaten his position as team leader, and he immediately abdicated in the battle against Ullrich.

He decided to go for the consolation prize instead and instructed two of his domestiques, the Frenchmen Didier Rous and Pascal Herve, to ride their own race instead of dragging the group along. Herve soon realised that he would be unable to stay with his team-mate, and waited to assist Virenque as Rous rode away alone to take the biggest victory of his career.

After the victory the day before of his Australian team-mate Neil Stephens,

Rous's win was another triumph for a domestique who owed his place in front to team loyalty rather than individual interest.

Indeed, just before he made his lone escape, the pencil-thin cyclist from

Castres in south-west France had done several kilometres of fruitless donkeywork up the Hundstruck to dispose of Ullrich. Just to complete the picture, it was

Herve who led in the chasing group for second place.