ullrich finished second in the 1998 tour de france but went on to win the 1999 vuelta a españa, although he missed the 1999 tour de france due to a knee injury. after winning the vuelta, ullrich became world time trial champion which enabled him to wear the rainbow jersey during time trials. he would win this again in 2001. the next year, zabel won the overall world cup victory, having won the milan – san remo and amstel gold race, while ullrich placed second again in the 2000 tour de france to lance armstrong. ullrich won the gold medal in the olympic road race and the silver medal in the olympic time trial. in 2001, zabel won milan – san remo for the fourth time. ullrich came in second in the 2001 tour de france, while zabel won six stages combined in the 2001 tour and vuelta. kazakh rider alexandre vinokourov won the paris–nice stage race in 2002, a feat he would duplicate in 2003, also winning the amstel gold race and tour de suisse that year. as ullrich left the team to form team bianchi in 2003, vinokourov became team leader for the 2003 tour de france. he finished in third place, just below the second placed ullrich. zabel won the 2003 paris–tours, while italian rider daniele nardello took the züri-metzgete.