This may be the last blog for a while.
It's hard to sum up the disappointment that comes with an announcement like this.
I love Jan Ullrich. I love him for his class. I love him for all the shit he eats from the press. I love him because he couldn't beat the arrogant Texan with a baseball bat, but Jesus did he try. I also love him for his near-genius ability to fuck things up no matter how much natural talent God gave him, and always seemingly at the last moment.
But I hate this, and regardless of what comes out of this, Jan definitely had contact with that sleazy doctor, and Jan definitely lied about it. Innocent until proven guilty, but if you're T-Mobile, and staring at a very likely Tour de France victory, everything you've dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into for the last five years, you don't pull Jan out of the Tour unless you've seen some pretty hard evidence. And then for CSC to pull Basso AFTER Jan is already gone? Ivan Basso was nearly guaranteed a free ride to the Yellow Jersey with Jan gone, so don't tell me CSC didn't see something scary.
This is a disappointment on many levels for me, but it's a slap in the face to everyone who loves the sport, to every CAT racer out there grinding it out in Nowhereland for a place on a rickety plywood podium, and everyone who just gets out and rides.
If I'm going to cheer for anyone, I'm going to cheer for David Millar, who has been brutally honest about what he did, and is now trying to ride the Grand Boucle without anything in his bloodstream, unlike God-knows-how-many other riders in the peloton.
Thanks for reading, let's hope Jan and Ivan get themselves straightened out, and lets hope for the best Tour de France in 20 years.
Get out and ride.


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I agree but Lance Armstrong is a fantastic cyclist and cancer survivor. He won all 7 Tour with a clean slate.
i agree totally...im a junior rodie on my way big if i say and im doing great...but the thing i alwayse think about when im on podium..racing or just riding is this one thing...if i do make it pro..like pro tour euro pro...wich i think i can...if i do make it there..it seemes like its gonna be a very unfair ride on my part....i know truly that i will never ever take drugs to bennifit my preformance because then whats the point of training and racing??its just not the same...and i wont stand a chance cause everyone is gonna be doping and its gonna be a wayste cause it seems like the only way to win is to dope...thats what i see in my eyes..and i think its unfair....when i get older..i hope that i can have the privalege to be as good as vinokurov...he has not doped or done anything but hard work...he knows how to ride his bike and he does most of the races...and i hope that these riders that do dope remember the real reason they started riding...for the pure joy out of working for succses and having fun...not for money...
i agree totally...im a junior rodie on my way big if i say and im doing great...but the thing i alwayse think about when im on podium..racing or just riding is this one thing...if i do make it pro..like pro tour euro pro...wich i think i can...if i do make it there..it seemes like its gonna be a very unfair ride on my part....i know truly that i will never ever take drugs to bennifit my preformance because then whats the point of training and racing??its just not the same...and i wont stand a chance cause everyone is gonna be doping and its gonna be a wayste cause it seems like the only way to win is to dope...thats what i see in my eyes..and i think its unfair....when i get older..i hope that i can have the privalege to be as good as vinokurov...he has not doped or done anything but hard work...he knows how to ride his bike and he does most of the races...and i hope that these riders that do dope remember the real reason they started riding...for the pure joy out of working for succses and having fun...not for money...
I love Jan most for being so damn human. In a time when everyone reveres the disco automatons, Jan never lost his humanity. He did great things, he did stupid things, he showed emotion. Bravo Jan!
I see Jan is dring beer and on his bike and driving his Porsche, how do you say this about hem?
Rilly I hope he runs you off the road next time he see you, I would , I dont think they are veean going to go to court over this as a man said freadom of speach is why he said it !
And in doing so amitted he made the story up !
Get real and try to rid fast like Jan or even me ! Ha
I don't need the Doc's help top go fast neather dose Jan!
This is a bit late, but I only recently found der Jan, in all his glory.
I've tried to think of riders as clean until proven dirty. In light of the recent events, I suspect a cerain someone slipped though the cracks. Lets see if you can guess who...
Too many of his former "lieutenants" have been caught red handed. Heras. Hamilton. Landis. Andreu (no matter how hard Bruyneel et al try to villify him).
It was conceivable to me at the time, that L.A. was just so much more focused on fitness and training. Training also explained why L.A. repeatedly one-upped the biggest natural cycling talent of a generation; der Jan. Unlike his Texan counterpart, Der Jan was not just a training fanatic, but also a huge party fanatic. This is why der Jan was so much more endearing to those of us who like to drink.
If it comes out that der Jan's and Basso's performances were medically enhanced, then I won't believe for a second that it was limited to 2006. After all, there was more at stake for der Jan (and Basso) in '05 -when a chance at beating L.A. -the ultimate temptation- was there.
If these allegations turn out to hold water, then the story for me will be altogether different:
There is no way that a clean L.A. was consistantly better -over 4000 gruelling kms -year in, year out- than a dirty Jan and a dirty Ivan. No way, no how, no matter how many livestrong-wearing-lance-lovers tell you otherwise. No way.
We ought to have some sympathy for der Jan. He appears to be unjustly doomed to bear the shame alone.
Had these events unfolded in '05, an even bigger fish might have been netted. Alas, they did not. This may turn out to be the biggest shame of all.
dont be too hard on poor old jan.i lived with someone german in italy called martin in italy think he rode for team coast when it a div 3 team,said jan is very talented guy but the people surrounding him werent so great.
i've raced in lots of different european countrys and spent alot of time riding with cunego and pozzato in italy as a junior and have to say the drug problem is massive but dont be to hard on the riders there the vitims of it all.i was a good rider there but clean i almost won afew races in italy just to get beaten at the fiinsh by riders i knew were charging,what would you do?i also got sent home by a team in belgium when i was a first year senior because i wouldn't take anything!thats how bad the problem is if you want to compete you have too take things to help you recover when you get to a certain stardard.the uci should limit the number of events and the distance of the races if they want to clean it up.
jan would still be a great rider with or with out extra help
Hey Mate, I am totally being dissappointed in der Kaiser too but I am being still loving him. I am not having the same respect for him that I was having for the Mighty Uniballer but I was always just being loving The Diesel for some reason. The reason is not being known. Maybe it was being those cute Deustche freckles. But I am still being liking the Mighty Jan but I am having some serious worter for der Jan if he was doing the EPO! Hey der Jan, Ich bin really hoping you are not being doing the cheating! If you are sitting there and wanting your peops to keep being loving you, you are needing to be straight and be sprecken der truth! Ich liebe dich!!! Want kommt der rosa zug? I am thinking that they are being leaving you. That is known since meine Jan T-mobile page has been being totally shut down. What is the Jan going to be doing for the teams now that the Mighty Desiel who wrought such pain spinning disks the size of toilet seats to do now that he is being fired? Oh Jan you were being so great, the only one being to not spin at 105 on granny gear. Oh Master of pain that is a pink abomination of God...what do you be planning on for teams? I am not wanting to see you go but I am being fearful since you yourself are being on the wrong side of 30 to be coming back for a Tour de France win. I look forward to see your massive thighs spin at the tour again. Your massive thighs spinning create fear in the peloton and it is funny! Fear the massive and heavy Diesel! The Mighty Uniballed One is gone so the show is all yours. Be keeping it clean Kaiser. Bitte!!! For all your fans sake.
Lance is a great man who over came great things, don't talk about him that way. Jan had his time to shine and he screwed up. end of story. Real men don't do blood doping