Ullrich's Intentions

Cam the Ram

Ullrich has finished 2nd in the Tour 5 times! Wouldn't you think he was tired of being in this position? Does Ullrich make a lot of money being Armstrong's "toughest rival"? I would say screw the coaches and managers and ride the race on my terms, if I was Ullrich. Don't you think he should be attacking on all the stages? What does he have to lose?

__________________
"We improve ourselves by victories over ourself. There must be contests, and you must win."

- Edward Gibbon (1737 - 1794)

patch70

What does he have to lose by attacking on every stage?
The race! Why bother exhausting yourself in flat stages when it will be relatively easy to chase him down by the end of the stage?
Better to conserve his legs for when it matters: the time trials and the hills. That is where the race can potentially be won by Jan.

Cam the Ram

I have never seen Ullrich and Armstrong in an all out flat-stage chase. If Ullrich has the chance to rip even 30 seconds off Armstrong, he should do it!

__________________
"We improve ourselves by victories over ourself. There must be contests, and you must win."

- Edward Gibbon (1737 - 1794)

patch70

To get those 30 seconds would require a super human effort and would leave him weaker later on in the hills when big time differences are possible.

gntlmn

Ullrich gets mega publicity from Lance and the media. Every Tour, they keep talking about the Ullrich threat. Yes, he would be getting much more exposure and higher earnings if he won, but I wouldn't mind being in Ullrich's shoes as far as respect and acclaim are concerned. He is a force to be reckoned with.

As for his bragging last year about how strong he was going to be this year, comparing his and Lance's rivalry to the Stallone's "Rocky", well, I'm not so sure. Jan is doing well, but not dominating yet. We'll see if he's holding something back so far. I was expecting him to be closer to Lance in the Time Trial prologue. And the TTT was not much more forgiving for him either. But of course, he also doesn't have Vinokourov. When he made big claims, he still thought Vino would be in the Tour.

Cam the Ram

Well, hopefully he is just playing mind games with Armstrong right now. I really want to see Ullrich dominate this time around. I wouldn't mind seeing Tyler or Heras winning this Tour as well...

__________________
"We improve ourselves by victories over ourself. There must be contests, and you must win."

- Edward Gibbon (1737 - 1794)

ed073

Get your video out of the 1997 Tour if you want to see Jan dominate. Untouchable.

musette

One who is attempting the GC win doesn't relinquish seconds in the Prologue and not win the TTT just to play mind games with one's major rival, the five-time-winner. It's sad for JU, but JU would be crazy not to be trying his best at this point.

I wonder what Pavenage's role has been in the Tour 04 so far.

patch70

Jan, like Lance, is saving himself for the second half of the tour as that is where the real action will be. Less than a minute difference now is acceptable provided he can peak in the mountains.

musette

How exactly is Jan going to peak in the mountains, as you say? How is Jan going to take time from LA there?

patch70

Strangely enough, by beating him! Lance is human remember. It is not guaranteed that Lance is going to have all good days in the hills. With constant attacks from the GC contenders plus the climbers, Lance is vulnerable. This was shown last year and anyone that wants to win has to try this again.

ed073

WTF??? "Relinquish seconds"???

You try riding 6km in 7 minutes and see how many seconds you "relinquish"....

Cam the Ram

Well, as we saw in Stage 5, minutes can be gained in the right flat-stage attack. I wish Ullrich could have been in that group of riders who managed to gain more than 10 minutes!

__________________
"We improve ourselves by victories over ourself. There must be contests, and you must win."

- Edward Gibbon (1737 - 1794)

patch70

There is a bit of difference letting 5 non-GC contenders go away compared to letting Jan ride away.
Quite a few people tried to break away but anyone that was vaguely a threat (icluding Hincapie!) was chased down.