[Argentius]

So, while Basso has won the Criterium International, Landis taken out the Tour of Cali and Paris-Nice, Jan Ullrich WON'T be racing the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Maybe this season, at some point this guy will race a bike.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/mar06/mar29news2

Then again, there was this other guy who was famous for not racing much in the run-up to the tour, and he won it like 7 times...

 

[rocco]

So, while Basso has won the Criterium International, Landis taken out the Tour of Cali and Paris-Nice, Jan Ullrich WON'T be racing the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Maybe this season, at some point this guy will race a bike.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/mar06/mar29news2

Then again, there was this other guy who was famous for not racing much in the run-up to the tour, and he won it like 7 times...

Yeah but the other guy actually won it 7 times... and besides, the other guy didn't have a history of knee and weight issues. Now I'm waiting to hear about the cold that's going to set him back three weeks. I think this is more of the same old. If Basso would stay out of the Giro I'd say he would be the favorite for the TDF this year considering Ullrich's knee is acting up again. I think Landis will make the podium this year.

 

[terzo rene]

Lather, rinse, repeat. I think if you went back and looked up all the quotes and stories from the Ulle camp every year you could mix and match and not be able to tell one from the other.

 

[euro-trash]

Ulrich:
1997 Won the TDF
1998 2nd
1999 Won the Vuelta
2000 2nd in TDF, Won the Olympic RR
2001 2nd in TDF
etc.
Yeah, you guys know how he should prepare better than he does........

 

[estone2]

ah someone does feel similarly to me
i dont understand why so many people call him an underachiever
oh damn, 2nd, 3rd place in the TDF.
Is that really underachieving? come on, guys, you wish you could ride half that well. hell, i wish i was even IN the TDF.
or "do what armstrong does, not what ullrich does". wouldn you want to do what ullrich does? cuz he IS a high performance pro, after all...
top ten in the TDF is NOT something to look down on

 

[hambinator]

Ulrich:
1997 Won the TDF
1998 2nd
1999 Won the Vuelta
2000 2nd in TDF, Won the Olympic RR
2001 2nd in TDF
etc.
Yeah, you guys know how he should prepare better than he does........

Im glad someone finally said it. Ullrich is no slouch, oh wait didnt he get 4th one year? Man he sucks

 

[Pablo]

What's "good" all depends on the ruler.

ah someone does feel similarly to me
i dont understand why so many people call him an underachiever
oh damn, 2nd, 3rd place in the TDF.
Is that really underachieving? come on, guys, you wish you could ride half that well. hell, i wish i was even IN the TDF.
or "do what armstrong does, not what ullrich does". wouldn you want to do what ullrich does? cuz he IS a high performance pro, after all...
top ten in the TDF is NOT something to look down on

Yeah, yeah. Jan is better than me and you and 99.9% of all riders ever. By any objective measure of his palmares he is undoubtedly a great rider. He's even more impressive in that he's managed to achieve such results with such a lack of commitment. But he is disappointing if the baseline for your analysis is not what average recreational riders or even other top pros are capable of. For people who feel that Jan has been disappointing, the baseline is what other freakishly gifted riders are capable of. Measured against most, Jan is brilliant and super human. Measured against himself, Jan is a let down.

But therein lies Jan's appeal, in that he's human and fallable. If he was the machine he is physically capable of, he would not be the Jan we all love and apologie for every season. That said, pass the brats.

 

[rocco]

I don't dislike Jan Ullrich and I'd be happy to see him win the Tour at least once more before he retires. Clearly his talent is eminence but measured against himself he capable of more than what he's achieved. I guess I wasn't clear enough because the main point I was driving at is that I don't think his prospects for winning the TDF this year are quite as sure a thing as many seem to think. Maybe this new knee thing will nothing but a small blip.

...and then there's Basso who finished ahead of Ullrich in '04 and '05 and is probably still getting better.

 

[CFBlue]

sad but true, this is the way it reads

Ullrich:
1996 2nd, TDF
1997 Won the TDF
1998 Lost the TDF
1999 Only won the Vuelta
2000 Lost theTDF again, Won the Olympic RR
2001 Lost the TDF again
2002 did nothing
2003 Lost the TDF yet again
2004 Lost the TDF...again, didn't even get on the podium.
2005 Lost the TDF ...yes, again and but got on the podium this time.

Anyone else and this is a great career, true but for someone of Jan's potential its too many 2nd's and too much wasted talent. Basso is going to win this year's tour and Jan will be 2nd...again.

 

[mquetel]

Basso is going to win this year's tour and Jan will be 2nd...again.

I am just so stoked that the podium is wide open this year without most riding for 2nd place or worse.

Now if the TDF folks could get a clue from the Giro organizers on how to put together a route...

 

[rogger]

Ullrich:
1996 2nd, TDF
1997 Won the TDF
1998 Lost the TDF
1999 Only won the Vuelta
2000 Lost theTDF again, Won the Olympic RR
2001 Lost the TDF again
2002 did nothing
2003 Lost the TDF yet again
2004 Lost the TDF...again, didn't even get on the podium.
2005 Lost the TDF ...yes, again and but got on the podium this time.

Anyone else and this is a great career, true but for someone of Jan's potential its too many 2nd's and too much wasted talent. Basso is going to win this year's tour and Jan will be 2nd...again.

2002 did nothing? Man, he got busted for popping some E when clubbing, he wasn't ALLOWED to race. And oh yeah, cycling is about much more than winning, it's about brio, panache, bravura, verve, courage (a Francais), all the flair that the 7 time TdF winner is lacking, but Ullrich certainly has some of those qualities. The sport is about humanity, tragedy, dreams unfulfilled. It is about doping, combines and sold victories. It IS about "you can't eat honor". It is, in short, not an American sport and Ullrich IS a hero for his ability to grasp and fail, but I guess you'd need a Europeian mindset to comprehend all of this.

 

[Argentius]

Looks like his start in the giro is in geopardy now, according to cyclingnews.com. He's
"only" been training "4 hours a day... low wattage, just rolling."

Hrm.

 

[CFBlue]

Hmmm

Popping E, that's the most legit excuse for having a nothing season I can think of... Just shows again that he doesn't do/have what it takes to win.

And don't call me American! Fact is though, pro sport is about the bottom line, making money.

 

[terzo rene]

Popping E, that's the most legit excuse for having a nothing season I can think of... Just shows again that he doesn't do/have what it takes to win.

And don't call me American! Fact is though, pro sport is about the bottom line, making money.

He was also busted for the E while recovering from a string of earlier mishaps and misfires so it's not like he was going to do anything that year anyway.

The results are quite impressive until you start looking at what lead up to them before and during the races. So fat he was riding a women's Turbomatic in the spring, overdid training and hurt knee, had to lose too much weight too quick and couldn't recover, attacking at the worst times, forgetting to eat and dress properly and blowing sky high, etc. etc. He is his talent's worst enemy. He is no doubt a more likeable person, better friend, and more mentally balanced than LA could ever be but the results/talent ratio is still one of the lowest around.