Ullrich Extra Motivated For 2005

gntlmn

Jan says he's not sure if he'll go to the World's this year or not. He'll decide one week prior to the event.

He also says that he's really looking forward to next season. He thinks he did very well in the Tour de France considering that he was sick. 4th is pretty good with a fever. The hometown reception in Germany confirmed in his mind that they realize how hard he's been working. It made him feel like it was worth it to hear the roars of the crowd.

He hopes Lance starts in the Tour next year. He still thinks he will win the TdF. But now Kloden is talking openly about defecting to be a team captain on another team. It's pretty clear that although he was healthier and thus stronger than Ullrich in the Tour, he's not going to be team leader at T-Mobile while Ullrich's still there. It will be interesting to see if he does stay. If Kloden does, and Jan is healthy next year, Jan may win the Tour.

But Jan also wants to win the Giro, and if he goes for that in 2005, it may be harder for him to win the Tour. There aren't very many people who have won all three Grand Tours. He has won the Tour de France in 1997 and the Vuelta in 1999. Now he only has the Giro to conquer.

Roadrash Dunc

Hmmmm i'd love to see Jan win another major Tour but his mental frame of mind always leave him with too much of a handicap.He has the engine he just doesnt have the brain.
I'd go for the Giro if i was him unless a few big guns cant make next years TdF.

tcklyde

Good news. Ullrich can absolutely win the Tour next year. There's no doubt he has the natural physical talent. If he stays motivated, keeps off weight, and gets his team in order, he can beat anyone, Armstrong included. T-Mobile, however, needs to figure out what it wants who it's going to support. Picking up Sevilla is definitely good. Constant bickering and bad decision making is not.

Interesting thought: What if Lance and Jan both ride the Giro next year? One in a million chance, but...

Other thing I've been thinking about: who leads Phonak next year? Tyler has to be a question mark, especially with so many other strong riders.

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Harry

jhuskey

Good question I will see if I can find out I have sort of an inside track to Phonak.

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Whenever I can't get excited about riding I just fantasize about someone else's bike.

Frihed89

What do you expect him to say, "I'm tired, discouraged and getting old. If it weren't for Lance Armstrong, I'd be the 6-time winner"? And he would have been, but for......

Neither Discovery Channel or T-mobil have any choice when it comes to their "staffing" and communications strategy. They have the first- and second-best TDF riders in the world.

Let the other teams plan for the long-run.

cheapie

i would love for him to win the giro or the tour. however, if lance decides to try to win either, he's SOL.

gntlmn

He's come in second to Armstrong 4 times so far. Since Armstrong won it 6 times, and Jan missed one year for surgery (1999), and in 2004 he came in 4th, that means he would have been 1st 4 more times without Armstrong. Jan would have been a 5 time winner without the Armstrong factor. Consider that the Armstrong's margin of victory was always several minutes except for in 2003 when he only mustered a squeaker against Ullrich of not much more than a minute. Also, Ullrich finished 2nd to Riis in 1996 and 2nd to Pantani in 1998. That covers all 8 of his tours: 1st one time, 2nd 6 times, 4th once.

gntlmn

I don't know about that. Lance skipped the recent San Francisco hill climbing criterium in which George Hincapie ended up with a third place showing complaining of tendonitis in his knee. He had been scheduled to race. He has had problems now with tendonitis since the end of the Tour this year. So who knows how long that will persist or how it is affecting his training. It may be a factor next year.

cheapie

if he has problems w/tendonitis i doubt he'd race the tour. meaning he wouldn't get beat by jan.

sportzgurl

This is my first post so I hope it works!!! I was on the Team Mobile website the other day and i was reading Ullrichs diary from the TdF this year. He says that he started to feel better by about the second week. He also said that he thought he was in ok form and feeling not to bad.

Ullrichs says he has around 2 years left in his career-and in those 2 years he wants to concentrate on winning another TdF. He said he wanted LA to be there. I think JU should concentrate on the Giro next year and give himself a break from the pressure of the Tour and really go all out in 2006-when hopefully LA has had enough of winning!!

Well I only started to like cycling this year, when I was sick and had to watch the Tour on TV because there was nothing else on but i got hooked on it!! So i am a little new to the world of cycling lol so anything i say is very uneducated!!

jhuskey

You don't have to be educated to post just opionated. When the tour was on I didnt care if anything else was on.
When your bike is worth more than your car you will know you have crossed to the dark side. Just relax and enjoy.

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Whenever I can't get excited about riding I just fantasize about someone else's bike.

KeSs

I don't think Jan will do the TDF if Lance does not also compete. Because if Lance were not to race in the TDF and Jan would win he would not of "earned" it and would most likely get critized for his win for the rest of his career. I think he realizes this and thats why he is hoping that Lance will compete in future TDF's.....

But on the same note, i don't think Lance will race in another TDF unless he is POSITIVE that he can win. I know that his ego would not allow him to ride his last TDF without a victory...

I just have a feeling that Jan will always be 2nd best.......

sportzgurl

I dont even cycle!!! lol my bike is a $50 rust bucket in the garage! But i will just enjoy-as long as everybody can handle my posts which will be random and probably not what other poeple are thinking!

jhuskey

I think most people will agree that my posts are not what they are thinking so post away and knock the rust off that bike It is not just a spectator sport.

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Whenever I can't get excited about riding I just fantasize about someone else's bike.