Does Ullrich Doping Change How Hard You Think he Tried To Win?
 

Ullrich has been dogged for years with complaints that he "just didn't want it enough." He'd get out of shape in the off-season and then have to struggle to get into shape. People said he didn't try that hard and thus wasted his potential. So my question is:

If he doped, does that change whether you think he was in fact willing to do everything he could to win?

He liked to eat. He is still the best ever.

I never thought that criticism was legitimate. Also, I don't tell myself anybody in the pro peleton is clean. So no effect at all.

If he wanted it more than, say, Armstrong, he'd have been logging the incredible winter miles that I've read that Armstrong did. Still though, perhaps his physiology had it's own constraints.

I think they both doped. I just think that Jan wasn't as pathologically obsessed with training as Lance was.

Everyone was doing drugs, so I don't think it says anything about his desire to win. That's just the way things were. You still have to judge him by the effort he actually put into riding. Since I'm sure he trained harder than me, I'll reserve judgment.

Count it.

i think the '03 tour saw jan at his best.

I think the East German system burnt the caring out of Jan by the time he turned pro. After winning the Tour once it wasn't important enough to him.