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Jan Ullrich still has it!!!

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There is also a Podcast by the same ARD team. First two episodes are online already. I seriously didn’t know that apparently Armstrong was quite important at Ullrichs deepest lows in the recent years (flew to Germany and Cancun to talk with Ullrich in the clinics he was and apparently it did indeed help - and it makes sense maybe - Armstrong “understands” Ullrich, who still claims he did nothing wrong. So he for sure must still hurt from 2006.)
 
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Wow, he seems to be as fit as a fiddle ! He must still be able to motor uphill, the VO2Max never goes away ! It would be great if he was on Strava !

I'm listening to the book on Audible these days as I ride my bike on Zwift, good fun but not too many scoops so far, everyone seems to have their own story and they're sticking to it...I'm at the point where Jacksche arrives in 1999 and so far there's no hint that Ulle's been on the sauce.
Read on… There is plenty to shroud his entire pro career. I like Jan, but the last sections of the book, much like Rendell’s book on Pantani, leave Little doubt that he had been initiated by the 1996 TDF at the very latest.
 
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ok...hope there's some tangible stuff though, no more of that "he says, she says" !

Would still love to ride with the man ! I remember reading an article in "Rouleur" where a journalist had accompanied him on a Gran Fondo that he did regularly. He didn't look as fit as today at the time though.
 
ok...hope there's some tangible stuff though, no more of that "he says, she says" !

Would still love to ride with the man ! I remember reading an article in "Rouleur" where a journalist had accompanied him on a Gran Fondo that he did regularly. He didn't look as fit as today at the time though.
I love Jan, and he comes off as a sympathetic figure, but while there isn’t a smoking gun document, the circumstantial evidence us pretty damning.
 
Read on… There is plenty to shroud his entire pro career. I like Jan, but the last sections of the book, much like Rendell’s book on Pantani, leave Little doubt that he had been initiated by the 1996 TDF at the very latest.
It was my impression that the book just assumes that readers already know that. I mean, it's a total no-brainer, and also not a particularly interesting topic (anymore).


I mean surely, no one picks up this book to find out whether Ullrich doped or not.
 
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Of course it's an interesting topic, why bother writing a book if you're not to get the basic facts straight.
When/how he started doping, with Becker ? Before that ? When he arrived at Telekom ? How it changed over the years ? Well I'm not finished with the book so hopefully he's going to get a bit more specific...So far it seems he's read clippings from the period as well as Ulle's 2004 autobiography, played golf with Armstrong and talked to a few contemporaries who haven't had much to say other than generalities about life in the DDR and the struggles faced by Ossies.
 
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Of course it's an interesting topic, why bother writing a book if you're not to get the basic facts straight.
When/how he started doping, with Becker ? Before that ? When he arrived at Telekom ? How it changed over the years ? Well I'm not finished with the book so hopefully he's going to get a bit more specific...So far it seems he's read clippings from the period as well as Ulle's 2004 autobiography, played golf with Armstrong and talked to a few contemporaries who haven't had much to say other than generalities about life in the DDR and the struggles faced by Ossies.


I don't share your assumption that he didn't set out to get the facts straight. The topic of Peter Becker and doping, for instance, is addressed several times throughout the book, but I don't see how you can possibly establish any "facts" in that regard.
 
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Well like I wrote several times I'm not finished with the book, I'm at the point where Becker's been to Merdingen in early 2000 and was told "personal stories of his youth" by Ulle (probably the "stories" he alluded to in 2018 after his meltdown) so well into the book and there's been zero hint that Becker was involved with doping apart from the obligatory "I'd never heard about doping" comment.
Ok, so forget about "facts" but a broad "timeline" like the one outlined in my previous message is the least you could hope for with this kind of book.
Best I just finish it now ,-)
 
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Ulle back at T-Mobile now, reliving that 2003 year was entertaining. But again you've got the feeling that for the most part the author's been reading around and summarizing in his book, case in point the info given by Philippe Le Gars from L'Equipe about the trip to Kazakhstan and collecting wine for his daughter, that's pretty much verbatim from an article from 2018 I read the other day ! I'm sure he gives due credit in the back pages but still...

For our German friends out there, would that picture from 10/2021 of Ulle likely have been taken at a summit above Freiburg ?

jan-ullrich.jpg


 
No one for the location ? Seems there's some sea on the right so definitely not Freiburg ;-)

Anyway I have now finished the book and given the "circumstances" it seems it's the best that could be done bar talking to the man himself...and it's not certain what more he could have really added that "mattered".

Stating the obvious but so many wasted opportunities...then and now. It seemed like Ulle and his wife, well at least his wife, had a plan for the future in Majorca, that "Biking Café", would probably have worked well and then...it seems that left knee injury sent him off the rails.

The "bike" museum in Merdingen seemed like a good idea too but that's apparently not going to happen and this time it's not (directly) his fault.

Oh well, I'll be riding in the Merdingen area soon, who knows, maybe I'll bump into Ulle !
 
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I think whats being referred to is the book written by Friebe

Anyways, Der Kaiser is without a doubt one of my personal favorites, so Ill have to read at some point and I trust Friebe to have written a very good book on the topic.

Ez 2006 victory. Unlucky
 
Where is the documentary streaming? Only in Germany? Is it possible to watch with subtitles?
 
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No one for the location ? Seems there's some sea on the right so definitely not Freiburg ;-)

Anyway I have now finished the book and given the "circumstances" it seems it's the best that could be done bar talking to the man himself...and it's not certain what more he could have really added that "mattered".

Stating the obvious but so many wasted opportunities...then and now. It seemed like Ulle and his wife, well at least his wife, had a plan for the future in Majorca, that "Biking Café", would probably have worked well and then...it seems that left knee injury sent him off the rails.

The "bike" museum in Merdingen seemed like a good idea too but that's apparently not going to happen and this time it's not (directly) his fault.

Oh well, I'll be riding in the Merdingen area soon, who knows, maybe I'll bump into Ulle !
It is on the Bodensee. On the Pfänder above Bregenz to be more precise.
 
Thanks, looks like a great place for bike riding, one day maybe !

So is that documentary the one that's mentioned at the end of the book and where Ulle was supposed to open up in detail ? I might have missed that but it seems it would have given rise to a lot of comments !
 
Thanks, looks like a great place for bike riding, one day maybe !

So is that documentary the one that's mentioned at the end of the book and where Ulle was supposed to open up in detail ? I might have missed that but it seems it would have given rise to a lot of comments !
No that is a different documentary that will air at a later stage. Apparently on Netflix or Amazon. The current documentary was done by the German ARD Television Network and Jan Ullrich is not involved personally.
 
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So I was in Ulleland last week but sadly did not bump into him !

Those who will likely bump into him are those who apply, get selected and pay up (that's gonna hurt) for his first (?) "ride with Ullrich" event that I found out about yesterday on his Instagram account View: https://www.instagram.com/p/CgW3z5XlD-Z/?hl=en


It's organized by one of the Baldinger brothers who "rescued" him in Merdingen after the 2018 disaster. It won't be a nice and simple riding event in the Black Forest but rather in Provence on the Ventoux, for which they built a story where Jan says it's "always been a very special mountain for me"...hum, other than in 2000 where he couldn't keep up with Pantani and Armstrong (or even Beloki) and that can't be a "special" memory for him, did he ever climb it before or after ?

More details here : https://www.janullrich.de/en/events/ but the plan is "a unique, exclusive international event for networking with other interested cycling enthusiasts and business people. "

Thoughts ?
 
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Ulle back at T-Mobile now, reliving that 2003 year was entertaining. But again you've got the feeling that for the most part the author's been reading around and summarizing in his book, case in point the info given by Philippe Le Gars from L'Equipe about the trip to Kazakhstan and collecting wine for his daughter, that's pretty much verbatim from an article from 2018 I read the other day ! I'm sure he gives due credit in the back pages but still...

There are some great photos of Jan visiting in Kazakhstan. Anybody knows where to find them? Couldn't find them in this thread.
 
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Ulle back at T-Mobile now, reliving that 2003 year was entertaining. But again you've got the feeling that for the most part the author's been reading around and summarizing in his book, case in point the info given by Philippe Le Gars from L'Equipe about the trip to Kazakhstan and collecting wine for his daughter, that's pretty much verbatim from an article from 2018 I read the other day ! I'm sure he gives due credit in the back pages but still...

For our German friends out there, would that picture from 10/2021 of Ulle likely have been taken at a summit above Freiburg ?

jan-ullrich.jpg



Jan still in good form. Keeping up with Vinge in the mountains would be a bit too much but Jan would still crush the Skeleton on a flat TT.
 

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