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Andreas Kloden's Final Bid For Another Coveted Top 10 Tour Finish, 'Official' Thread

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No! He can't! He won't! It's not gonna happen!
He's not gonna get another GT top 10, ever!

I'm sorry if you don't believe in miracles :laughing:

Actually, given the number of times that riders results are cancelled years later, that 11th place finish is probably more likely than not to be upgraded one day!

So long as it's not Kloden's results that are the ones that are cancelled :p
 
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So what's Klödi been up to ? Do we know if he stayed friends with Ulle after 2006 ?
I remember in that leaked home video of Ullrich a couple of years ago (the one where he talked about wanting to be world champion of smoking and doing 1000 sit-ups a day) he also said that he calls everybody (like his house staff) his "Klödis" since they're his helpers. If I were Klöden I'd be pretty annoyed by that.

These days Klöden seems to be a brand ambassador for Storck bikes and founded a rider management agency together with Danilo Hondo.
 
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So what's Klödi been up to ? Do we know if he stayed friends with Ulle after 2006 ?
I know when Klöden was still racing towards the end of his career that he and Ullrich would ride and camp together. There former director thought of them always hanging out and drinking when Klöden retired. I think when Ullrich's drama started it said they were still friends. Plus I think they both live in Switzerland still.
 
I know when Klöden was still racing towards the end of his career that he and Ullrich would ride and camp together. There former director thought of them always hanging out and drinking when Klöden retired. I think when Ullrich's drama started it said they were still friends. Plus I think they both live in Switzerland still.

Klöden still lives in Switzerland as far as official sources hold up, Ullrich is living somewhere in the black forest area and supposedly riding a bike now and then again.
 
I remember seeing somewhere on social media a few years ago that Jan was hosting his own bike tours, which seemed to be going well. But that was before he hit his mid-life crisis (or maybe his second one). So I'm really not sure. Andreas has always preferred to stay out of the limelight, even during his career.
 
I think the thread is dead and buried by now, but I‘m digging it up because I just stumbled upon it. Why was (and is) Andreas Klöden relatively popular among cycling fans of the 2000s? Is it mainly his style on a bike (which was great most of the time) or his personality (a rather shy guy I have read)?
For me it definitely was his style on the bike (which the Norwegian commentators always pointed out was beautiful). Adding to the style in 2004 was his clean German National Champ jersey, just a fantastic look!

About his personality, it was always shrouded in mystery. From the outside he looked like a shy individual, but some quotes from teammates have said otherwise, so difficult to say. But it definitely added to the mystique, you never knew quite where his thoughts/ambitions were, because he gave so few interviews.

When I look back at his career there were so many what ifs also, he arguably should have won the tour in 06, barring T-Mobiles stupidity, in 07 he was in monster shape before he crashed, would have podiumed or possibly won in my opinion, 09 he should have podiumed if not for Contador, and 11 is maybe the biggest what if, pretty much everything was lined up for him to get a good result.
 
I think the thread is dead and buried by now, but I‘m digging it up because I just stumbled upon it. Why was (and is) Andreas Klöden relatively popular among cycling fans of the 2000s? Is it mainly his style on a bike (which was great most of the time) or his personality (a rather shy guy I have read)?
Not just the 2000s but a lot of posters are/were fans on Klödi. There’s just something about a rider with all the talent to win at the top, yet shies away from the limelight and leadership in the service of others, has had multiple crashes and mishaps hamper his career from getting better results, and of course looked amazing on the bike.
 
Not just the 2000s but a lot of posters are/were fans on Klödi. There’s just something about a rider with all the talent to win at the top, yet shies away from the limelight and leadership in the service of others, has had multiple crashes and mishaps hamper his career from getting better results, and of course looked amazing on the bike.
We should wait for the OP to respond as he is still active. I too didn’t really understand Kloden’s allure? Looked amazing on the bike? Surely there was more to it than that?
 
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I think the thread is dead and buried by now, but I‘m digging it up because I just stumbled upon it. Why was (and is) Andreas Klöden relatively popular among cycling fans of the 2000s? Is it mainly his style on a bike (which was great most of the time) or his personality (a rather shy guy I have read)?

Apparently this thread will never die.

I think that Andreas was probably disliked by more cycling fans than liked, however, he had a few hard core fans on here which is why this thread was somewhat popular.

The thread's activity was also because Klöden was kind of a throw back to a darker era (at least in perception), but he remained a stage race contender for a few years after this forum began, whereas his more accomplished and famous compatriot Jan Ullrich was long retired by then.

Why no slightly popular Ivan Basso thread then? It's probably just coincidence that I was a big Klöden fan (I've always tended to find the secondary stars in sports more interesting than the super stars), as were a few others here. Seems like there are more Italians here than Germans, though perhaps not 10-15 years ago.

As others have mentioned, Klöden had numerous what if moments in grand tours, a little like Landa, and rode along that fine line in-between team leader and super domestique, a little like Landa, though perhaps his ceiling was a little higher than Landa's. Andreas also had that shady side to him where he was caught but at the same time never caught. Perhaps this also added to his allure.

There was a great article in 2011, I think it was called "What's eating Andreas Klöden?" That explained the cyclist and the interest that some fans had in him quite well.
 
Apparently this thread will never die.
I think that Andreas was probably disliked by more cycling fans than liked, however, he had a few hard core fans on here which is why this thread was somewhat popular.

The thread's activity was also because Klöden was kind of a throw back to a darker era (at least in perception), but he remained a stage race contender for a few years after this forum began, whereas his more accomplished and famous compatriot Jan Ullrich was long retired by then.

Why no slightly popular Ivan Basso thread then? It's probably just coincidence that I was a big Klöden fan (I've always tended to find the secondary stars in sports more interesting than the super stars), as were a few others here. Seems like there are more Italians here than Germans, though perhaps not 10-15 years ago.

As others have mentioned, Klöden had numerous what if moments in grand tours, a little like Landa, and rode along that fine line in-between team leader and super domestique, a little like Landa, though perhaps his ceiling was a little higher than Landa's. Andreas also had that shady side to him where he was caught but at the same time never caught. Perhaps this also added to his allure.

There was a great article in 2011, I think it was called "What's eating Andreas Klöden?" That explained the cyclist and the interest that some fans had in him quite well.
12 years since you created this, you both have staying power. I was just a lurker then.

I was always a fan of Kloden, never sure why, just something about him, may have been an article or interview perhaps.
 
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My first years watching cycling were those prime Klöden years. Impossible not to like such a stylish rider, looked effortless uphill when he was really good. The bandaid on his nose. Riding in his German jersey. His flawless posture on the TT bike. Love at first sight. Supported for him untill he retired.
 
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