Ullrich begins season in Romandie

Ullrich won the Tour de France in 1997 at the tender age of 23

T-Mobile rider Jan Ullrich will make his seasonal debut in the six-day Tour de Romandie, which begins on Tuesday.

The former Tour de France winner suffered a knee injury which disrupted his early-season training.

"I'm completely back on track," said the German, who will use the Swiss race to test his form before deciding whether to ride in May's Giro d'Italia.

Favourites to win the Tour de Romandie include Alejandro Valverde, Alexandre Moos and Bradley McGee.

The six days of racing start with a 3.4km prologue time trial around Geneva's city centre and end with a 20.4km individual time trial in Lausanne on Sunday.

The other stages are spread across the south-east of Switzerland with 10 major climbs.

Ullrich, who has been tipped by Lance Armstrong as the man most likely to win cycling's biggest prize this summer, will be joined in the race by many of the same team-mates who will support him in the Tour de France, including Eddy Mazzoleni and Oscar Sevilla.

The 32-year-old has finished runner-up in the Tour de France five times, three times behind Armstrong, who was champion for seven successive years before announcing his retirement after his 2005 success.