Road Bike Racing - Ullrich not riding the TOUR!

Jan Ullrich today announced that due to continuing problems with his knee he will not ride in this year's Tour de France.

He plans his comeback in September for the Vuelta.
On Team Telekoms official homepage he says: "It is no use. When increasing intensity during rides, suddenly the pain is back."

I read the same on cyclingnews.com.
Pity, although I'm a lance fan I still want to see a
race, not a tour across france.
Although Simoni has thrown down the gauntlet
(at least verbally) I don't think he can pull it
off. Yeah he may challenge Lance in the mountains
but what about the TT? Nope, ain't gonna happen.
I am truely sorry that Jan won't be there.
I am truely pleased that Marco won't.

Marty

Mark my words, Coast is going to get an invitation to the Tour. CAsero can beat Armstrong. the STdF knows this and they want this to be a race.

What a bummer- it'll probably end up being a victory lap around France for Armstrong. Yawn....I guess I'll root for Simoni or Casagrande. Maybe Velocipedio is right- they'll have Team Coast so at least they can have Casero and Alex Zulle, for climbing AND time trialling. Also, Mercado is a climber. Jimenez seems to be out of commission now, which is too bad.

Ullirhc should fire his trainers- he seems to keep doing this and shooting himself in the foot, so to speak. Hopefully he'll be in the Vuelta. Didn't he win it once?

LoL, I was just on VeloNews three minutes ago & read this. It sort of came as a shock, though, I wouldn't have expected him to pull out already, this early in the season.

Armstrong will have an easier time, yes, but I think there are enough other contenders to give Lance a hard time even w/o Ullrich.

Originally posted by Ben3001
Jan Ullrich today announced that due to continuing problems with his knee he will not ride in this year's Tour de France.

Tsk Tsk. He should've watched Lance... spin, don't mash. ;)

This news puts the Porsche-in-the-bikerack news of a couple of days ago in a different light. I guess he'd gotten the news by then.

That's probably what happened- he got himself corked. Well, who wouldn't want to get corked? NOt drive afterward, mind you.

It looks like the Giro is probably going to be even more enjoyable than the Tour this year. In some ways, I like the Giro better. But I agree, there are definitely those who can give Armstrong a headache in the alps. He might just get cocky figuring that he's got it made and then wham! He gets beat in the mountains by well, whoever.

He might just get cocky figuring that he's got it made and then wham! He gets beat in the mountains by well, whoever.

I don't know about that. The one thing ya gotta give
Lance is that he is calculating. I don't think he's gonna
take anything for granted. I mean who thought in
1999 that he was gonna do much? took him for
granted and WHAM! 3 yellow jerseys.
I'm still hoping for a good race, looking for
Simoni, maybe Beloki to give him a run.

Marty

Yes, I'm really very sad about Ullrich's decision not to ride the Tour!
Ullrich is getting on my nerves!
His injuries suck!
I really don't think that he can win the Tour again, this could even be the end of Ullrich's career!:(

Originally posted by wabbit
In some ways, I like the Giro better
Agreed, but it's much harder to follow here (in the US). The web-page (http://www.giroditalia.it/) has English, but only the main pages are translated.

Roadbuzz
OLN is showing the whole thing.
At work I tend to sign into the OLN website
and can listen to a live broadcast.

Marty

Originally posted by lotek
OLN is showing the whole thing.
Thanks for the tip! Hopefully, the firewall at work won't block it (they block web radio).

As much as I would love to get OLN, I refuse to pop for the 150 station package (or whatever it is) my dish provider requires to get it. :irritated

You should complain- I'd risk getting illegal satellite if I could get OLN US.

I doubt it's the end of Ullrich's career- there have been comebacks from a lot worse injuries and horrible diseases. Museeuw nearly had his leg amputated, Nico Mattan had a heart condition. And speaking of which, you're probably ribht about Armstrong. I doubt he thinks it's a given that he's going to win. No such thing as a given, no matter who you are- anyone can crash, get a flat, bronchitis, etc.

Originally posted by wabbit
What a bummer- it'll probably end up being a victory lap around France for Armstrong. Yawn....

But what about Sevilla? This young kid is the real thing and he's training for the Tour. He's healthy and he's been racing. He may not have a strong enough team, though.

I expect this to be a difficult Tour for Lance with Hamiton gone and no single rival to focus on. He'll have to keep track of many riders instead of just one.

I'm wondering if Telekom will ride for Livingston or Zabel with Ullrich out. Any thoughts?

I guess livingston was going to be working for Ullrich. I hear that Vinokurov and Zabel are the leaders- obviously they'll be working on getting Zabel into green, yet again, and Vinokurov is having a good season. I agree about Sevilla- he hasn't done that many races yet, but he'll probably be in Tour de Suisse and Alps classic before the Tour. It'll be interesting to see armstrong having to contend with a number of great climbers- last year it was only Ullrich he had to worry about after Casagrande bailed, and Garzelli didn't finish that high. This year he'll have a few to contend with, although none of them are known as time-triallers, whereas Ullrich is world champ. Oh, well.

I say that this COULD be the end of jan's career.
I'm just not sure if he has the motivation for a come back!

Originally posted by WoodyUpstate
I'm wondering if Telekom will ride for Livingston or Zabel with Ullrich out. Any thoughts?

I expect Telekom will ride for Zabel, and focus on the overall team victory.

Telekom witl ride for Vinokourov for the GC, Zabel for stage wins.

Who could be Armstrong? Anyone, to tell the truth. He only needs one bad day or a middling time trial, and SImoni, Casero [should Coast be in the Tour], Sevilla, Casagrande, Zulle [ditto], Jalabert, Virenque, Moreau and others could blow by him. There are a lot of greats in the peleton.

I'm thinking that, if Jalabert decides to go after the GC, he could do it. Moreau could do it to with the new-look Credit Agricole.

I think the new CSC could give Lance a run
for his money (and not just because I work for em :lol: )
Jaja has the motivation and talent to do it. I think that
since Tyler is going for GC in Giro he would make the perfect
domestique (a position he knows well) for Jaja.
Vinokourov will go for GC for telekom according
to all press reports.
it may be a victory lap around france for lance
but I doubt it.

Marty

I forgot about Virenque, and of course Jalabert. Last year, a lot of contenders weren't in the tour, like Virenque, and he's doing pretty well so far. He could make Armstrong crazy in the mountains. Moreau bailed last year, so hopefully this year he'll stick it out. Mercado was great in the Vuelta, i don't know if he'll be in the Tour. It would be great if they change their mind and have team Coast on the start list- I'd love to see Casero and Zulle. HOw many more chances is Alex Zulle going to get for the tour?

According to Spiegel Online, Ullrich’s coach, Walter Godefroot, said that the trust between him and Ullich had been “schattered.” Beyond the drunk-driving incident, Godefroot claimed that the knee injury stemmed possibly from “lacking professionalism” on Ullrich’s part. Godefroot was also quoted as saying in reference to the drunk-driving: “one doesn’t do something like that as a professional. It damages Jan’s reputation as champion and the reputation of the whole team. In that stands a lack of respect for his teammates.”

It was not suggested in the article, but I have the impression that Godefroot may also be upset by the surprise news conference the other day, in which Ullrich announced his pulling out of the Tour. The news conference was pulled together at the last minute. Godefroot also claimed that Ullich’s pulling out had “changed all [Team Telekom’s] plans” for the Tour. Perhaps the announcement caught Godefroot as much by surprise as everyone else.

Pretty tough, especially that about the knee. I guess Ullrich's got some work to do, not on the bike with his relationship to his team.

Cheers.

I agree with velocipedo. Telekom will focus on Zabels 7th green jersey and Vinokurow will be the man for the classement. Vinokurow allready showed that he also can win big stage races like Paris-Nice or the German Tour. Will be interesting to see the TDF without Ullrich. But I´m sure Jan will come back next year. He is still young and can have some big years to come.