Jan Ullrich

[MonkeyFace]

we all love ulle but he had some problems in the winter with the weight, it's not a myth fueled by bruyneel

That honour fell to Ullrich, who had apparently celebrated his Tour win a little too much, and had piled on the pounds as a result. “He’s a good 10 to 15kg overweight,” a team-mate told me one day. And if that was true, he had a good amount of dieting ahead of him if he wanted to make it to fighting weight in time for the Tour.

from bjarne's book

I agree with Franklin on this. Most of the pictures I see of Jan he is very good shape. Even a lot of his spring pictures don't show him to be over weight but rather carrying too much muscle. I think Jan rode well below his natural weight and naturally would gain muscle whenever he would quit racing. In my opinion, Jan probably had the body of a classics rider rather than a stage racer. He just happened to excel at stage racing.

 

[SundayRider]

Good news that Jan has done a deal with Rapha to be a brand consultant.

Looking forward to him growing a beard so he can appear in the advertisements.

Rapha clearly not that bothered about being associated with dopers.

 

[roundabout]

I agree with Franklin on this. Most of the pictures I see of Jan he is very good shape. Even a lot of his spring pictures don't show him to be over weight but rather carrying too much muscle. I think Jan rode well below his natural weight and naturally would gain muscle whenever he would quit racing. In my opinion, Jan probably had the body of a classics rider rather than a stage racer. He just happened to excel at stage racing.

Look at all the muscle in his mid section.

Or is it diaphragm breathing?

Not fat, not fat at all.

 

[mewmewmew13]

Jan looks good!

Armstrong had to belittle all his competition…easy to start rumors about lard and pie eating..

now guess who looks a bit portly



Jan had the talent in his young junior years

 

[oldcrank]

Rapha clearly not that bothered about being associated with dopers.

"Jan had told him many times
it was you to me who taught
In Jersey anything's legal
as long as you don't get caught."
(Tweeter and the Monkey Man,
by the Traveling Wilburys)

 

[nomapnocompass]

Rapha clearly not that bothered about being associated with dopers.

- They do sponsor Team Sky afterall!

 

[Neworld]

Ok,

Time for Jan to use the 'strictly confidential' avenues provided to come clean.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/independent-reform-commission-offers-olive-branch-to-lance-armstrong

 

[42x16ss]

Jan had a picture on his Facebook page last summer of him and Mrs. Ulle attending Matze Kessler's wedding in Austria. That certainly sounds like a step towards normal life
JU Facebook Photos

Jan looking very fit and handsome these days. Middle age becomes him.

Jan certainly looks happier and more at peace now he's riding for pleasure, on his own terms. Some people don't handle the spotlight at all.

 

[Tonton]

Jan certainly looks happier and more at peace now he's riding for pleasure, on his own terms. Some people don't handle the spotlight at all.

You're right on. There are a lot of cycling fans in Germany and they were starving for a TdF winner. When he won, he became bigger than the national soccer team, bigger than Steffi Graf, he was the German equivalent of Michael Jordan. Not easy to adjust. And he was 24 like Eddy when he won his first TdF. Big Mig had just won five and everyone was already thinking about him breaking the record. Expectations were off the charts.

 

[kingjr]

You're right on. There are a lot of cycling fans in Germany and they were starving for a TdF winner. When he won, he became bigger than the national soccer team, bigger than Steffi Graf, he was the German equivalent of Michael Jordan. Not easy to adjust. And he was 24 like Eddy when he won his first TdF. Big Mig had just won five and everyone was already thinking about him breaking the record. Expectations were off the charts.

There was a show on a german tv channel some time after the TdF 2006, that presented the 50 most emotional or greatest german sports moments (I dont remember exactly) and Jan Ullrichs win in Arcalis came in first. After he got busted.
That just to illustrate how big he was here.

 

[mewmewmew13]

There was a show on a german tv channel some time after the TdF 2006, that presented the 50 most emotional or greatest german sports moments (I dont remember exactly) and Jan Ullrichs win in Arcalis came in first. After he got busted.
That just to illustrate how big he was here.

I still think Ulle is the best

 

[McLovin]

You're right on. There are a lot of cycling fans in Germany and they were starving for a TdF winner. When he won, he became bigger than the national soccer team, bigger than Steffi Graf, he was the German equivalent of Michael Jordan. Not easy to adjust. And he was 24 like Eddy when he won his first TdF. Big Mig had just won five and everyone was already thinking about him breaking the record. Expectations were off the charts.

I was just 13 in 97. Was he so dominant? Or it was the multiple wins fever after Indurain? And was he the favorite before the start? I mean, the BIG favorite, or people expected another Riis win?
I sort of miss those days, still remember the 2000 Dax Hautacam stage, with last three winners and had no idea who is stronger because Ullrich and Panatani never compete with the GC Armstrong. Oooo, that tension, those emotions.
I don't know how big was in Germany, but I know that in 2000 if I had to choose between Ullrich winning the Tour again and Romania national footbal team winning Euro '00, I had choose Jan. I remember I told my dad this and he said I had a head problem. Nice times.

 

[42x16ss]

I was just 13 in 97. Was he so dominant? Or it was the multiple wins fever after Indurain? And was he the favorite before the start? I mean, the BIG favorite, or people expected another Riis win?
I sort of miss those days, still remember the 2000 Dax Hautacam stage, with last three winners and had no idea who is stronger because Ullrich and Panatani never compete with the GC Armstrong. Oooo, that tension, those emotions.
I don't know how big was in Germany, but I know that in 2000 if I had to choose between Ullrich winning the Tour again and Romania national footbal team winning Euro '00, I had choose Jan. I remember I told my dad this and he said I had a head problem. Nice times.

Yes, Ullrich was THAT dominant in '97. He won GC by 9 minutes, third was 14 back and he won the youth classification by a measley 45 Heading in he was about even money with Riis as Ulle was only 1:41 behind in '96.

The display Ullrich put on at Arcalis was something else - when you consider that he was only 23 at the time, you can understand the hype he got from the global cycling community.

 

[webvan]

Yep, seemed completely unbeatable but I remember Fignon saying just after the St Etienne ITT that there was no guarantee he would win multiple times...Fignon knew something about that after crushing the 1984 TDF with arguably stronger opposition, Hinault and Lemond...

 

[McLovin]

Yep, seemed completely unbeatable but I remember Fignon saying just after the St Etienne ITT that there was no guarantee he would win multiple times...Fignon knew something about that after crushing the 1984 TDF with arguably stronger opposition, Hinault and Lemond...

But was he the best climber in the Tour? I remember that in the 2000's he was considered just a brilliant TT-er who could climb. In 97, 98 he was also a brilliant climber? Again, I was too little back then.
If so, what actually happened after? (2001 was good but humiliated by LA and 2003 is arguable).I don't buy the weight thing.

 

[Netserk]

EPO test and Lance.

 

[McLovin]

EPO test and Lance.

In 99 Vuelta there was still no EPO test and he was not so good uphill.Same 2000 Tour. He lost 3 minutes on Hautacam alone. It's true, he was the best on Joux Plane. Something happened after 98 Tour.

 

[Netserk]

Well he had a knee injury in '99.

 

[del1962]

EPO test and Lance.

He had a lot of bags of blood stored by Fuentes though

 

[McLovin]

I'll bump this thread with a news from 2006.

Ullrich's ex-trainer calls it a "catastrophe"

"This is a catastrophe," said Jan Ullrich's former trainer Peter Becker to German news-TV channel N24, after learning of the suspension of Ullrich from T-Mobile. "Naturally that will be a terrible blow for Jan. It's unbelievable. You work hard for 15 years...I can't find any more words. This is a catastrophe.

"He has an altitude chamber in his basement, that cost €120,000, so that he could train in a clean way, and he still manages to fall in with these rogues and betrayers. Who has been advising him, who has been taking care of him, since I'm not with him? He is actually old enough to know who he should trust. I simply don't want to believe it, it is incomprehensible."

This brings back the question if he was really clean at some point in his career. Or his former trainer is full of s***.

 

[webvan]

That's been debated quite a bit...Race Radio who was apparently employed in some capacity at DT/T-Mobile swears up and down that he was always doped to the gills, but Livingston's and Pevenage's (and others like the one you quoted) statements over the years would tend to indicate that he became "careful" after 1998 and then made some "bad decisions" after getting trounced in the 2004 TDF.

 

[Race Radio]

Livingston's and Pevenage's (and others like the one you quoted) statements over the years would tend to indicate that he became "careful" after 1998 and then made some "bad decisions" after getting trounced in the 2004 TDF.

Ullrich used Fuentes in the 2003 season. It is documented that he was at Fuentes "Doper hotel" to receive a transfusion on April 19-20th of 2003. He had likely already done a withdrawal in March.

Becker is perhaps not the best person to ask on the topic. He also denied that coaches or authorities in East Germany had "ever obliged any participant in a sport to take one pill or whatever of a prohibited product."

 

[thehog]

That's been debated quite a bit...Race Radio who was apparently employed in some capacity at DT/T-Mobile swears up and down that he was always doped to the gills, but Livingston's and Pevenage's (and others like the one you quoted) statements over the years would tend to indicate that he became "careful" after 1998 and then made some "bad decisions" after getting trounced in the 2004 TDF.

German cyclist Jan Ullrich has tested non-negative for amphetamines after an out of competition control taken on June 12 at the "Medical Park St. Hubertus" rehabilitation clinic.

Out of competition tests in Germany are carried out by the Anti-Doping Commission, who must report it to the German cycling federation. Telekom specify that its team members be tested five times per year out of competition.

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news/?id=2002/jul02/jul04news2


Team Telekom had a internal OOC testing program run by the German federation. So I don’t think he was “doped to the gills” but doping all the same. This was at a time when OOC testing was non-existent.

When Ullrich went to Coast/Bianchi the form came flooding back 1997 levels. Amazing what some good OOC testing can do.

At the time Riis was trying to get Ullirch to come to a new team sponsored by Deutsche Post which later became CSC. Just to think what would have happened with Riis and Ullrich together. Jan would have won 4 more Tours

 

[Bavarianrider]

I'll bump this thread with a news from 2006.

Ullrich's ex-trainer calls it a "catastrophe"

"This is a catastrophe," said Jan Ullrich's former trainer Peter Becker to German news-TV channel N24, after learning of the suspension of Ullrich from T-Mobile. "Naturally that will be a terrible blow for Jan. It's unbelievable. You work hard for 15 years...I can't find any more words. This is a catastrophe.

"He has an altitude chamber in his basement, that cost €120,000, so that he could train in a clean way, and he still manages to fall in with these rogues and betrayers. Who has been advising him, who has been taking care of him, since I'm not with him? He is actually old enough to know who he should trust. I simply don't want to believe it, it is incomprehensible."

This brings back the question if he was really clean at some point in his career. Or his former trainer is full of s***.

Without being rude, Becker is not the brightest man on this planet. So i wouldn't take every word he says too seriously.
Still, there are plenty of indications that Ullrich rode without EPO or blood bags in 2000 and 2001. That of course doesn'T mean that he was "clean" but the talk that he was blood manipulation free and those two years seems legit. Especially in 2001 Ullrich was on top of his game, he looked better than ever and had trained more than ever. Yet, he peaked out at about 6,0-6.2 watt/Kilo max, while in 1996-1998 he went for 6.7 and above.
That's the difference between 49% and 42% hematocrit.
Many say that his mental-alcohol problems he developed in the winter of 2001/2002 had a lot to do with the ecperience of the 2001 tour. He was in his best shape ever yet he got slaughtered by Armstrong. German media ripped him appart. He realized that winning the Tour g would only be possible if he hits the juice again.

 

[Bavarianrider]

For those speaking German and/ or simply want to see the Kaiser again. Jan looking good, actually better than he looked during his career in November

There will be an interview with Ullrich on German Television RTL on Sunday 30th of November at 19:15 German time.

Live stream http://www.live-stream.tv/online/fernsehen/rtl.html#tab2-tab

(Apparently doping was discussed, too.)

Some pictures from the interview.