I’m probably going to get flamed to pieces for posting this, but I’ve been thinking about it for a while and had to get it off my chest. I waited until we had at least one mountain stage to be sure, but I started thinking about this after the first time trial stage.
I think Jan Ullrich deserves a great deal of respect, because he’s probably NOT going be a serious contender to win the tour this year. To me, that means he’s resisted the ENORMOUS pressure to add performance enhancing drugs to his training regimen. And that’s a hard choice for someone in his position – one that deserves a great deal of respect.
Think about it: he’s come -->this<-- close to winning year after year after year, but hasn’t been able to do it. Everyone knows that this is the year to achieve fame and fortune by beating Lance in his last and final effort. If he doesn’t win, his only mention in the history books will be as the guy who always lost to Lance, and 20 years from now very few people will remember him. He’s got the hopes of a lot of Germans riding with him, not only against Lance in particular but against the French in general. For a pro athlete he’s getting older, and it must be getting harder to train hard day in and day out. Even though Lance won’t be there next year, he may not be able to beat some of the younger challengers that he could have beaten just a few years ago.
It would be so easy for him to add a little HGH and a few steroids, and bump up his performance dramatically. He’d take the calculated risk that he wouldn’t be caught, and with consultations from some top docs he might be able to pull it off. He has a lot to gain relative to what he has to lose.
Watching his performances over the past few days, I believe he is doing the best that an un-enhanced Jan Ullrich can do. While that’s absolutely fantastic, and better than 95% of the field, it probably will not be enough to win the Tour this year or ever again, and he knows it. He certainly has my respect for choosing that path.
Lee Silverman
JackRabbit Sports
Park Slope, Brooklyn
He is doing the best he can in a poorly managed team.
As for PEDs, well…hmmm…how to say this diplomatically?
Let’s just say everyone is at the same level more or less…
Agreed. Except for the fact that some riders probably have easier access to newer ‘goodies’ than others…
Unless of course he’s on the same regimen he’s always been on, and has just resisted the temptation to bump it up to a level where he knows he will get caught.
That’s not meant as a flame. Just that the fact that he is losing doesn’t mean he isn’t doping…
He’s won the Tour once and has an Olympic gold and silver. Why bother to taint those by doing something different (whether it be doping to start or doping in general).
btw, I’d really like Jan to win but I am not that naive…Lance, Jan, etc…all the same stuff…Lance wins because he is the best. Jan still has a chance for a 2nd place I think. Basso third.
But drugs…? yeah…all of them.
They’re all using the high-octane gas. These races are as much about pharmacology as physiology. Are these drugs illegal? Probably not, because WADA doesn’t even know they exist. And/or they’ve gone back to old school blood doping with their own blood, which is why they’re more sluggish early in the season – hard to race and give blood…
I think all the riders deserve equal respect for even MAKING it to the starting line, regardless of their performance inthe race. Even the least of the riders there would blow my doors off…
Lee…good points…but Jan Ullrich HAS won the Tour way back in 1997. In fact, he was heralded as the second coming of Miguel Indurain, climbing with the climbers and destroying them in the ITT.
If it ever was shown to be the cause, I don’t think it would surprise anyone… All those PED’s cause/stimulate growth (of muscle, or of red blood cells, etc.). As a result, they often have a more profound effect in areas of high growth/hormone production anyway (gonads, bone marrow, brain).
you surely missed some of my posts. Not the whole peloton though…but everyone at the front, yes I believe so. What I’ve seen racing in France doesn’t make me really optimistic.
Not only has he been runner up in previous tours he has not tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. In fact Jan has tested positive for drugs that are detremental to his performance. Jan has tested positive for Ecstasy in the off season. The governing body was shocked and unsure what to do with the situation because they would only make his performance worse. The point is Jan has a life outside of cycling, one that includes having fun and attending a party or two. Does this make him the greater man? I believe it makes him a man to admire and respect.
A little perspective is instructive, also. This guy has competed at a level in his sport that most of us will never achieve in ours. He’s won the TDF, and never finished lower than fourth in all his completions of it (7/8/?). He is one hell of an athlete, and the threat he posed surely helped one L Armstrong push himself higher.
I respect Jan for what he has been able to accomplish. But why should anyone be proud of him because we believe he’s resisted the urge to take PEDs? That’s like being proud of a student who doesn’t cheat on a test. Newsflash - no one is supposed to cheat, ever! Have our standards of proper behavior sunken so low that we are proud of people just because they don’t cheat?
