Jan Ullrich lost the tour of Germany because

Bavarian_Frank · August 26, 2005, 6:23pm

he had his front wheel running backwards doing the time trial.

Xentis confirmed it.

rubberchicken · August 26, 2005, 6:29pm

Jan won the time trial.

ms6073 · August 26, 2005, 6:31pm

Jan won the time trial.
Just not by enough time to overtake the overall lead!

Bavarian_Frank · August 26, 2005, 8:19pm

Jan won the time trial.
Just not by enough time to overtake the overall lead!

That’s what I meant. My title is a little misleading. Sorry.

Frank

ezrahallam · August 26, 2005, 8:35pm

" Jan Ullrich lost the tour of Germany because…"

He didn’t take the right drugs.
Apparently his mechanic is an idiot.
He got depressed every time he looked down and saw he was wearing pink.
He can’t climb with Levi.

TwinDad · August 26, 2005, 9:01pm

Okay, I’m going to sound like an idiot here, but are you for real? The front wheel is mounted backwards?

CGTRIGUY · August 26, 2005, 9:06pm

I’ll sound like an even bigger idiot, but how much did Jan lose by would a correctly-mounted wheel really have made up that difference?

Bavarian_Frank · August 26, 2005, 9:08pm

I’ll sound like an even bigger idiot, but how much did Jan lose by would a correctly-mounted wheel really have made up that difference?

Xentis, the manufacturer of the wheel estimated that it might have cost him 30 seconds because he had to sustain some 20 watts more power than with a correct mounted wheel.

Frank

ezrahallam · August 26, 2005, 9:09pm

He lost by 31sec. The TT was 30km, about 36min. I have no evidence to support this, but I don’t think it would have made that big of difference over such a short course.

stl_triness · August 26, 2005, 9:11pm

Jan finished 31 seconds overall behind to Levi.

Rappstar · August 26, 2005, 9:13pm

He’s not the first. There were a number of USPS riders that ran the H3 backwards. With the Xentis, however, it is MUCH easier to tell which way is forward… The trailing edge is very thin and the leading edge is super-fat.

Poor Jan…

Bavarian_Frank · August 26, 2005, 9:16pm

Compare it with this picture taken from the TdF. The Xentis runs the correct way there:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tour05/?id=tour0520/22

Frank

Tom_Demerly · August 26, 2005, 9:19pm

That’s huge. I hope the mechanic was the half time show at an Afghan soccer match.

OT_in_CA · August 26, 2005, 9:26pm

There were a number of USPS riders that ran the H3 backwards.

There is a directionality to the H3? Are you sure? I am using an H3 front and I’ve never heard this before and I can’t find anything regarding this on the Hed site. The blades look absolutely symmetrical to me. (???)

Can you point me to something that would back this up? A quick google search didn’t reveal anything.

ot

el_gato · August 26, 2005, 9:46pm

Yes, there’s directionallity to the H3, albeit slight. One edge is more rounded, while the other his sharp. The easiest way to get it right… valve stem opening goes on the drive side.

OT_in_CA · August 26, 2005, 9:52pm

Why wouldn’t this asymmetry be referenced in the Hed literature? Or why isn’t there any references to this information at all?

I’ll look closely at the wheel when I get home tonight but I recall not detecting any differences between the two edges of the blades. Interestingly enough though, I’ve always mounted it with the stem hole on the drive side (for no real reason).

ot

el_gato · August 26, 2005, 9:54pm

Good question. It’s not in the literature anywhere, and I probably wouldn’t have caught it myself. The LBS owner pointed it out to me.

OT_in_CA · August 26, 2005, 10:05pm

Uh oh…an LBS testimonial…

dvfmfidc · August 26, 2005, 10:15pm

Because he is German racing against an AMERICAN!!! When will he learn?

fifth_string · August 26, 2005, 10:41pm

I don’t know about all this asymmetry, but this guy kicks ass!

c