Originally Posted by Vinokurtov
Ulrich showed up in great shape for the 2003 tour and still finished second. Jan was never going to beat Lance just like Barkely was never going to get a ring while Jordan was playing.
And it wasn't a lack of fitness when Panatani cracked him.
Ulrich had a few fatal flaws other than his fondness for strudel, like not being able to ride in bad conditions, a lack of accelleration on steeper climbs, no killer instinct, no sprint, and poor strategic sense (and lousy teams). At best he might have taken all seconds to LA but that's it. He wasted a slice of his loaf of bread, but made very tasty sandwiches out of the rest.
Since I'm feeling contrarian, I'll also argue against FDB. He was/is nuts. You have to be at least sane enough to realize you're wasting it.
My pick(s): Fausto Coppi sitting in a POW camp. Eugeni Berzin for being lazy. Greg Lemond getting shot and losing peak years. Anyone who's ridden for T Mobile in the last 7 years (except Erik Zabel, who we love for all the right reasons).
I wouldn't say bad teams for Jan. Well at least not all of them. Telekom was surely one of the best teams ever (at least based on TDF results for a single year. First, second and sprinters jersey is pretty good. FAema 69 and La Vie Claire 86 are the only ones in hte same class I can recall, at least for trade teams). But it did not devote it's entire year to just one rider for just one race. His tactical weaknesses seem to me to be his biggest problem. If he had not panicked he would have beaten Pantani in 98. Only lost by about 3 minutes, but lost 10 on that one stage.
Thinking of Coppi and Jan getting ripped for eating how about a couple of other greats. Anquetil was well know for liking his food and wine, leading to the excess of lamb on a rest day legend. Surely he could have done more with better discipline. And Eddy would have had more wins if not for his crippling crash in a derney paced track exihibition race.