Now there is noone to challenge Lance...I mean really Ullrich renounces the Tour Jan Ullrich will not race in this year's Tour de France, according to German newspaper Bild. The winner of the 1997 Tour cited his knee injury, which has kept him out of competition for most of the year. Ullrich had a similar problem in 1999, although that came later in the season after he crashed in the Tour of Germany in June. In every other year that he has raced the Tour (1996, 1998, 2000, 2001) he has finished second. Telekom team management has confirmed that Ullrich will not race in the Tour. "There doesn't seem to be much competition for Armstrong now," said Telekom manager Walter Goodefroot in an interview with Darren Tulett of Bloomberg News. "He is unquestionably the strongest." Daniel Baal, the director of the Amaury Sport Organization which runs the Tour, commented that "This is very unfortunate, and especially for Ullrich himself. Last year, he was the principal rival to Lance Armstrong". In a recent interview with Cyclingnews, Armstrong said "no question about it, we need a fit Jan Ullrich in the Tour De France this year; I do, you do, we all do - especially if he's fit and ready to win." This year unfortunately, that's not going to happen. Ullrich had his driving licence confiscated last week by German police after being reported for driving his Porsche into a bike stand and knocking over several bicycles. His blood alcohol level was reported to be 1.4 g/L at the time -legal amount is .5-
Maybe Joseba Beloki will give Lance a run for his money... then there's always Levi Leipheimer who placed third in the Veulta last year... Actually Lance looks like a shoe-in, however, the Tour is a long race and anything can happen. If Lance gets in a bad wreck, catches a cold, whatever, it could go to anyone. It is dissapointing, though, for Jan. That guy is strong. Mr_Oiley, do you have OLN? They will broadcast the entire tour live. Take care, Charlie
I got OLN this year! I've been taping all the classics so far and will get the rest or as much of the big races as I can! Giro in a few days! Couch time yeeee-haaaaw! Last year heypartner and some other guys were updating the final stages and I was green with envy about their OLN. Oh yeah, true the tour is very long, so who knows?!
You said it... one day with a stomach problem and you're toast in the TdF. Just last year USPS crashed on their team time trial, and Lance was almost eliminated in that rainy flat stage where the peleton was dropped by a small group. Just completing 3 tours is amazing, much less winning 3. I'm sure someone will rise to the occassion and challenge Lance. Jan Ullrich was very young when he won the tour, so who knows what might happen. ...but Lance is definetly the favorite (big time).
Isn't the format changing this year? Or was that last year? Anyway, did ya'll see last year when Ullrich wiped out and Lance waited for him? Pretty d*mn impressive sportsmanship.
I liked the part when he looked back at Jan and stared for a few solid seconds going up that huge mountain (dont remember which it was) and then was just like "ba bye" as he just took off. That was awesome. Uh, that was Ulrich right?
I give Gilberto Simoni the only shot to challenge Lance....other than that, I don't think anyone can stop Lance, barring crash, injury, drugs, or something else. But I know I cheered when Ullrich was announced as being out of the race....the competition is good, but he's gonna win one of these years!
