Road Bike Racing - What happened to Jan

Jan cracked on the alpe i didn't expect this so early. Is he past his best, unprepared, or having a bad day?

I think Jan was surprised by the speed of the attack, on the final climb. Lance Armstrong had this to say:

"There's no doubt about that. 'Triki' is new to our team and he went too hard, too fast. A fast tempo is a good thing, but that was super-sonic. That was not a good thing because it immediately put 'Chechu' (Rubiera) in trouble," Armstrong said. "If it looked fast on TV, I can confirm it - it was very fast."

Jan is not that kind of climber, he was probably shocked at that the speed of the attack and then tried his best to not loose too much time. Jan isn't finished yet, I hope.:)

CHEERS.

Mark

His director reported that he had a "stomach bug", but I think that his lack of racing time this year was the real problem. However, he is certainly still in contention, and is a very strong time trialist.

Ullrich has never been a pure climber. He always -- ALWAYS -- takes time to ride into the mountains. Add to that the fact that he has barely raced at all in the last year and that his team was falling apart until a month ago and the fact that he's in eighth place should have you asking "is this guy amazing or what?" and not "is he past it?"

Remember, Ullrich is an amazing time trialler and there are two time trials coming up. If he limits his losses in the mountains, he can definitely pull out a podium spot, even a win (should something, God willing, happen to the USPS train) by burning up the time trial courses.

well stted Peloton, well stated.

Jan said so himself that he didn't get to train %100 properly for the tour this year.

He still has it, but as he has said, wasn't fully ready.

He still rode very very well on d'Huez.

I think he finished strong and did not lose too much time. I think he did very well considering the way his year started.

Do you think he will come back in the time trails?

He didn't crack, he just didn't have an easy time but he finished pretty well.

1. Ullrich doesn´t have the form he used to have.
2. He was surprised by the speed Beltran paced, even so was Armstrong.
3. He was/is a bit ill, problems with his stomach and a little fever.
4. Jan will win the TDF next year.

He didn’t crack, he just hasn’t raced. Don’t forget he beat Lance in the prologue.
I think it’s possible for Jan to podium this year. We could be looking at Lance, Tyler, and Jan in the end.

Originally posted by Michael Marshal
We could be looking at Lance, Tyler, and Jan in the end.

If we are lucky it will be the other way around, tho.
:beer: