Grenoble, France ? Jan Ullrich slammed headfirst into the back of a team car the day before the start of the Tour de France, cutting his neck close to the jugular vein.

He arrived at the starting line for the opening-day time trial visibly shaken and lost 66 seconds to six-time defending champion Lance Armstrong. Ullrich then slowly crept back to form, but in Sunday’s ninth stage he fell off his bike again, damaging his rib cage.

In his final chance to dethrone Armstrong, the 1997 champion entered this year’s Tour leaner and fitter than recent years. But Ullrich, the man who had been considered Armstrong’s chief rival this year, has had awful luck so far.

“I’m in pain of course, but tomorrow I’ll get better,” the 31-year-old Ullrich said Monday at the T-Mobile team hotel. “I’ve had bad luck, but I’ve also been very lucky. I’ve fallen twice, but I didn’t break anything.

“I went to hospital because I was afraid something was broken,” he said. “But I’m glad it’s not. My legs feel very good, and I know I can compete as long as my body is in shape. The fact I’m still in the race means I can withstand the pain.”

Ullrich finished runner-up to Bjarne Riis in his debut in 1996 – the year Armstrong abandoned the Tour mid-race, marking the only time Ullrich has beaten Armstrong head-to-head in the Tour.

Ullrich’s latest setback comes at a bad time, with today’s first of three Alpine stages up to the ski resort of Courchevel likely to test his aching body.