They can strip results and names and accomplishments from the records all they want but I will NEVER forget those Epic Battles between Lance and Ulrich
@@Videos-sobre-punhos-e-rodas Jan Ullrich was chasing Lance. He was appearing on the TDF podium with Lance more often than anybody else. So who was bigger contender between 1999-2005 for Lance?
@@RoadBikersPoznan Jan Ullrich was the one who had the best results in the Tour after Lance, i'm not arguing about that. What i disagree is about the fact "he was the only one who Lance feared". Marco Pantani was another one (he showed in the Tour 2000 why, and that's even though he wasn't in the physical and mental conditions he had before the Giro 1999). And, maybe, even Iban Mayo in 2004 (he completely lost to him in the Dauphiné Libéré).
@@Videos-sobre-punhos-e-rodas But Mayo and Pantani couldn't really beat him overall with two long time trials. Those time trails gave Lance six minutes over Mayo and Pantani. With Jan it was a different story
As the video reveals, it's well known today that Lance Armstrong feared Jan Ullrich thus providing the extra motivation to train and prepare for TdF races each year. Although they were not good friends in those professional competitive years, today Lance holds a great respect and special kinship with Jan.
2:10 He wasn't a combination of talent and hard work. Like Lance said at the end of the video, his offseason and preparation was not something you would expect for an elite cyclist. Just search "Jan Ullrich Vuelta a Murcia 2004" on TH-cam. Spending the winter drinking beers and eating burguers have his consequences. So, in terms of hard work and mentality, he was nowhere near to Lance Armstrong and many others riders of the peloton; who took their job seriously. Another thing that i have to say is that (because of the reasons i mention ahead), he wasn't in his prime when he was in Bianchi. His best year was in 1997. That was because, back then, he didn't fall into the bad habits that would diminish his performance in the following years. In 1998, 2003 and 2006 he was in good shape, but not in his best shape and peak form like he was in 1997. He was never like this again in his career. 2:00 I don't agree. 2:06 I don't agree. He respected (and still respect) Jan Ullrich, no doubt about that; but i think he feared more Marco Pantani. He hated him. His understanding of cycling and racing, was totally different to Lance. When he attacked at Col des Saisies, he just didn't expect that; and he could only relax after the dr.Ferrari told him he wasn't going to achieve anything attacking that far away to the finish line. And also, you can watch what happened in Courchevel. He was so scared that the Mercatone Uno didn't go to the Tour the following years (even though Marco Pantani wasn't at his best anymore, after the Giro 1999).
as a fellow gear masher, my enduring memory of ullrich was a time in the tdf when he was badly bogged down in his 12 and just grinding away at a miserable cadence long after getting dropped. how a guy of his stature in the sport did not know how to un-bog his legs is beyond me. all I can conclude from this was that his impediment to more cycling success was between his ears.
He was opposite to Lance. Low cadence was his style. Most of cycling coaches teach to spin faster as less damaging for joints and probably more effective but Ullrich rode his own way...
Jan Ullrich was 23 years old when he won the Tour de France, one of the youngest winners for many years. He was predicted a great future, but yet, it was not to be.
@rRoad Bikers Poznan Another great video, really enjoying this series of 90’s/2000’s EPO doping era hero’s. We hold very similar views on this. Keep up the good work 👍 I believe the TDF EPO era started in 91 with Indurain what’s your thoughts? Would make a good video I think.
Indurain is definitely one of the "luckiest" riders. His winning streak came at the time of almost uncontrolled epo-doping where there wasn't even 50% hematocrit limit verified. Miguel was an excellent athlete who probably adopted EPO a bit earlier than most of his rivals. It was astonishing how 6.1ft(186cm) tall Indurain climbed at the same pace together with ultra-small Pantani. There are data confirming constant improvement of his power2weight ratio from the very first TDF win in 1991 till 1995. Anyway very interesting career worth exploring and worth making enemies. There is still lot to cover.
I suppose we could use a word "cyborg" to describe most of the pro-riders who won TDF in any era of cycling :-) It is all about suffering for long hours. If sticking with "terminator" movie namespace I would say Lance Armstrong was Rev-9 model, Jan Ullrich was T-800 and rest of the peloton were like Sarah Connor ;-)
Ullrich was certainly the nice guy and had the greatest talent of his generation. Unfortunately, we know what happened. It's not that 'they were all on drugs' but rather it had reached industrial proportions where amoral doctors were over seeing medical interventions rarely seen outside of an operating theatre. It had to stop. It did and the whole world of professional cycling was under forensic examination in the press, TV and courts. Now the question hangs over the sport; is it 'clean' today? No. It never will be as long as you have such a punishing demand placed on athletes and the rewards are balanced in favour of the risk. Fame, fortune, security and all for ordinary blokes who love to ride a bike. What would you do?
I am much of the opinion that athletes are at the very end of the dope process. Often they find themselves at the point where there is no return and have to accept unethical "rules" imposed by teams and quietly supported by sponsors. Jan Ullrich when defending himself said he never used anything that others weren't using. I think I can agree with him and respect all his achievements. My view on Jan is very positive.
I really love how predictions that [insert rider's name] will dominate cycling for the next [insert number] years age like milk. Like what gives them the confidence to make such widesweeping comments about a rider's ability to retain form year after year when they know variables like crashes, random gunshot wounds during a turkey hunt, and just life in general can happen?
8:20 nah the graph is misleading, its not normalize for time, you need to use power curves, not take just averages of different w/kg that arent normalized for time spent riding at a given w/kg in a statistical context ...
in a clean field, he wins 6-7 tours. but even in the doped field he would have won them, if he hadnt those few weaknesses (eating disorder from stress and childhood trauma) as well as the insane pressure. no cyclist EVER had to face such pressure. the hype was unreal in germany. in a country which didnt really care to much about cycling he became the biggest star overnight... the media always bullied him when he made mistakes...
I am surprised by this video after watching your video on doping in the GDR. Don't get me wrong, I loved it that a German athlete won the Tour in 1997! But seeing what was revealed since... weren't both he and Erik Zabel products of the DDR system? Certainly that culture had consequences. Even though Jan got podiums, etc., he may be a nice guy, I hope he is, but he is still disgraced nevertheless along with Rijs, Armstrong, Pantani. Virenque... (long list). How could the team have been clean when Rijs won dirty in 1996?
He was doped like everyone else at that time: Indurain, Bugno, Zulle, Riis, Pantani, Berzin... all of them were "glowing". I am much of the opinion that in this sick environment it was almost impossible to refuse PEDs. Simple as this: you don't take it, you don't make it. If the talented and doped athlete can be better that untalented and doped I respect all the victories from that era. Even in the darkest times of blood doping and steroids abuse there were few who had turned their back to performance enhancing drugs like Christophe Basson. Some of them voiced their concerns over doping in the peloton publicly. Some of them were just riding in the shadow. Maybe they were robbed of successful careers... who knows. "Leave me in peace; everybody takes dope." - Jacque Anquetil, five-time Tour de France winner
@@RoadBikersPoznan I agree. I know TH-cam's algorithms brought me to your channel after watching a lot of videos on the Cycling Stories channel. So now I'm biased but I understand your take and all these guys are still human. More so now that they've admitted to what they (everybody but a few) did.
When his name is brought up as the most talented cyclist of his era, cough potato weekend warriors will talk about doping. Doping is irrelevant when we are talking about, balance of high and low twitch fibre muscles, femur length, natural long calves, lung capacity, joint flexibility, symmetry and of course natural VO2 max.
It is strange for a German that you call Jan Ullrich as Der Kaiser. I never heard it here. Franz Beckenbauer ist the person in Germany which is called Der Kaiser.
Some critics say that Ulrich was one of the last cyclists to win the Tour clean. If that is true then was he able to beat Lance if he doped? Or no one clean could have gotten on to the podium during that era?. Lance declared that EPO gives you +10% performance and Lance won mountain stages looking fresh but on the other hand Jan Ulrich, his face showed the effort and the suffering that it was for him to climb with the best at the mountain stages.
I suppose that Jan could steal at least one TDF title from Lance if he cut more weight before the tour. He needed just a little bit more of dedication as he was very close to Lance - especially in 2003. Tyler Hamilton in his book "Secret race" wrote that it was not possible to be in top 40 without blood doping at that time and I am much of the same opinion. If EPO upgraded Lance by 10% it means he was High-responder to this hormone. This means Jan Ullrich was competing with a "beast" even if he was on the same specific too.
@@RoadBikersPoznan I agree I think Jan had a problem with the off season. He liked to party and was known to gain weight from his off season eating and drinking habits which had to have a somewhat negative effect on his training regime. Whereas Lance seemed to be the polar opposite during the off season. He would train exclusively with the Tour as his goal. He would pre ride many of the routes that he an Johan felt would be crucial stages. His strength was his unwavering focus on winning the Tour.
@@jjmoto65 exactly. Also I think when Ullrich and Armstrong met for the first time in 2000 Lance was more hungry as his previous title was won during absence of Pantani and Ullrich who were considered as favorites. Lance wanted to prove he is the best and was totally focused on the tour. After winning in 2000 Lance build psychological edge over Jan who become "the Eternal second". But still Jan was outstanding player who pushed Lance to his limits.
Have always loved Jan’s tenacity and spirit. Epic battles with Armstrong!
Loved the epic battles between Ulrich and Armstrong and the utmost respect they had for each other.
Well, they were juicing buddies.
They can strip results and names and accomplishments from the records all they want but I will NEVER forget those Epic Battles between Lance and Ulrich
In my eyes the most talented cyclist of all time!
Also a very nice guy :-)
As simple as that 👍
Nope ... Nope ... Nope ... Eddy Merckx. Jan was an all-time... but no comparison.
@@panchovector9145 Hard to really say who was the greatest talent. So many factors.
But Merckx probably dominated his era more, than Ulrich did his.
Miguel Indurain and Alberto Contador were better than him.
Jan Ullrich was by far the greatest talent of those days in cycling - maybe of all time :)
The only one who Lance feared...
@@RoadBikersPoznan I don't think so.
@@Videos-sobre-punhos-e-rodas Jan Ullrich was chasing Lance. He was appearing on the TDF podium with Lance more often than anybody else. So who was bigger contender between 1999-2005 for Lance?
@@RoadBikersPoznan Jan Ullrich was the one who had the best results in the Tour after Lance, i'm not arguing about that. What i disagree is about the fact "he was the only one who Lance feared". Marco Pantani was another one (he showed in the Tour 2000 why, and that's even though he wasn't in the physical and mental conditions he had before the Giro 1999). And, maybe, even Iban Mayo in 2004 (he completely lost to him in the Dauphiné Libéré).
@@Videos-sobre-punhos-e-rodas But Mayo and Pantani couldn't really beat him overall with two long time trials. Those time trails gave Lance six minutes over Mayo and Pantani.
With Jan it was a different story
As the video reveals, it's well known today that Lance Armstrong feared Jan Ullrich thus providing the extra motivation to train and prepare for TdF races each year. Although they were not good friends in those professional competitive years, today Lance holds a great respect and special kinship with Jan.
Your videos and commentary are great. Keep the videos coming.
Fantastic job on this video, brings back great memories. Keep up the good work brother. Just subscribed. Peace be with you 🚴🥵💯👍
Thanks man :-)
2:10 He wasn't a combination of talent and hard work. Like Lance said at the end of the video, his offseason and preparation was not something you would expect for an elite cyclist. Just search "Jan Ullrich Vuelta a Murcia 2004" on TH-cam. Spending the winter drinking beers and eating burguers have his consequences. So, in terms of hard work and mentality, he was nowhere near to Lance Armstrong and many others riders of the peloton; who took their job seriously.
Another thing that i have to say is that (because of the reasons i mention ahead), he wasn't in his prime when he was in Bianchi. His best year was in 1997. That was because, back then, he didn't fall into the bad habits that would diminish his performance in the following years. In 1998, 2003 and 2006 he was in good shape, but not in his best shape and peak form like he was in 1997. He was never like this again in his career.
2:00 I don't agree.
2:06 I don't agree. He respected (and still respect) Jan Ullrich, no doubt about that; but i think he feared more Marco Pantani. He hated him. His understanding of cycling and racing, was totally different to Lance. When he attacked at Col des Saisies, he just didn't expect that; and he could only relax after the dr.Ferrari told him he wasn't going to achieve anything attacking that far away to the finish line. And also, you can watch what happened in Courchevel. He was so scared that the Mercatone Uno didn't go to the Tour the following years (even though Marco Pantani wasn't at his best anymore, after the Giro 1999).
The tour was so exciting truly two of the greatest rider
True rivalry. Spoke to spoke :-)
Jan Locomotive Ullrich showed us how to be a Gentleman Cyclist Champion! 🇩🇪 🌷🌍
Yes one of the greatest athletes of all time in any sport
JAN ULRICH would have been much much more in cycling. What a talent he had.
I loved his determination to continue fighting when he raced.
Jan was a beast , only guy Armstrong was scared of .
as a fellow gear masher, my enduring memory of ullrich was a time in the tdf when he was badly bogged down in his 12 and just grinding away at a miserable cadence long after getting dropped. how a guy of his stature in the sport did not know how to un-bog his legs is beyond me. all I can conclude from this was that his impediment to more cycling success was between his ears.
He was opposite to Lance. Low cadence was his style. Most of cycling coaches teach to spin faster as less damaging for joints and probably more effective but Ullrich rode his own way...
@@RoadBikersPoznan why my knees are gone now with big gears
Danke! 🙏
Bitte :-) Jan ist gute Sportsman mit Grosse Hertz.
"" Here comes the LITTLE MAN WITH BIG HEART (!), Marco PANTANi... ""
5:28
memories fro that era and Big Mig days
@@1fairhurst 💙💥👌
Ullrich i love you
What version of Silence is in the introduction? That brings back so many memories
Jan Ullrich was 23 years old when he won the Tour de France, one of the youngest winners for many years. He was predicted a great future, but yet, it was not to be.
Lance Armstrong outfought and blocked many potential superstars for seven long years...
It seems so, yes. And using bully methods towards everybody that questioned him.
Brilliant.
@rRoad Bikers Poznan
Another great video, really enjoying this series of 90’s/2000’s EPO doping era hero’s.
We hold very similar views on this. Keep up the good work 👍
I believe the TDF EPO era started in 91 with Indurain what’s your thoughts? Would make a good video I think.
Indurain is definitely one of the "luckiest" riders. His winning streak came at the time of almost uncontrolled epo-doping where there wasn't even 50% hematocrit limit verified. Miguel was an excellent athlete who probably adopted EPO a bit earlier than most of his rivals. It was astonishing how 6.1ft(186cm) tall Indurain climbed at the same pace together with ultra-small Pantani. There are data confirming constant improvement of his power2weight ratio from the very first TDF win in 1991 till 1995. Anyway very interesting career worth exploring and worth making enemies. There is still lot to cover.
Seems strange to me that, in reality, given his power he only had to not be as heavy to have been so much better.
Cheers
Ulrich was a product of the east German sports program. A cyborg
I suppose we could use a word "cyborg" to describe most of the pro-riders who won TDF in any era of cycling :-) It is all about suffering for long hours. If sticking with "terminator" movie namespace I would say Lance Armstrong was Rev-9 model, Jan Ullrich was T-800 and rest of the peloton were like Sarah Connor ;-)
1:05 the alien race of millenium
Ullrich was certainly the nice guy and had the greatest talent of his generation. Unfortunately, we know what happened. It's not that 'they were all on drugs' but rather it had reached industrial proportions where amoral doctors were over seeing medical interventions rarely seen outside of an operating theatre.
It had to stop.
It did and the whole world of professional cycling was under forensic examination in the press, TV and courts.
Now the question hangs over the sport; is it 'clean' today? No. It never will be as long as you have such a punishing demand placed on athletes and the rewards are balanced in favour of the risk.
Fame, fortune, security and all for ordinary blokes who love to ride a bike.
What would you do?
I am much of the opinion that athletes are at the very end of the dope process. Often they find themselves at the point where there is no return and have to accept unethical "rules" imposed by teams and quietly supported by sponsors. Jan Ullrich when defending himself said he never used anything that others weren't using. I think I can agree with him and respect all his achievements. My view on Jan is very positive.
I really love how predictions that [insert rider's name] will dominate cycling for the next [insert number] years age like milk. Like what gives them the confidence to make such widesweeping comments about a rider's ability to retain form year after year when they know variables like crashes, random gunshot wounds during a turkey hunt, and just life in general can happen?
Ulle ❤️
8:20 nah the graph is misleading, its not normalize for time, you need to use power curves, not take just averages of different w/kg that arent normalized for time spent riding at a given w/kg in a statistical context ...
in a clean field, he wins 6-7 tours. but even in the doped field he would have won them, if he hadnt those few weaknesses (eating disorder from stress and childhood trauma) as well as the insane pressure. no cyclist EVER had to face such pressure. the hype was unreal in germany. in a country which didnt really care to much about cycling he became the biggest star overnight... the media always bullied him when he made mistakes...
If Urlich had been able to remain disciplined in regards to his offseason weight he would have won more
No doubt about it. Hell of talent.
@@RoadBikersPoznan the power he put out in raw watts must have been over 500
I am surprised by this video after watching your video on doping in the GDR. Don't get me wrong, I loved it that a German athlete won the Tour in 1997! But seeing what was revealed since... weren't both he and Erik Zabel products of the DDR system? Certainly that culture had consequences. Even though Jan got podiums, etc., he may be a nice guy, I hope he is, but he is still disgraced nevertheless along with Rijs, Armstrong, Pantani. Virenque... (long list). How could the team have been clean when Rijs won dirty in 1996?
He was doped like everyone else at that time: Indurain, Bugno, Zulle, Riis, Pantani, Berzin... all of them were "glowing". I am much of the opinion that in this sick environment it was almost impossible to refuse PEDs. Simple as this: you don't take it, you don't make it. If the talented and doped athlete can be better that untalented and doped I respect all the victories from that era.
Even in the darkest times of blood doping and steroids abuse there were few who had turned their back to performance enhancing drugs like Christophe Basson. Some of them voiced their concerns over doping in the peloton publicly. Some of them were just riding in the shadow. Maybe they were robbed of successful careers... who knows.
"Leave me in peace; everybody takes dope." - Jacque Anquetil, five-time Tour de France winner
@@RoadBikersPoznan I agree. I know TH-cam's algorithms brought me to your channel after watching a lot of videos on the Cycling Stories channel. So now I'm biased but I understand your take and all these guys are still human. More so now that they've admitted to what they (everybody but a few) did.
When his name is brought up as the most talented cyclist of his era, cough potato weekend warriors will talk about doping.
Doping is irrelevant when we are talking about, balance of high and low twitch fibre muscles, femur length, natural long calves, lung capacity, joint flexibility, symmetry and of course natural VO2 max.
It is strange for a German that you call Jan Ullrich as Der Kaiser. I never heard it here. Franz Beckenbauer ist the person in Germany which is called Der Kaiser.
Section nickname: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Ullrich
@@RoadBikersPoznan These Nicknames are all not known in Germany! We say „Ulle“ to him. Look for Spitzname: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Ullrich
Who ever called him "Kaiser"?
The current yawn de france has none of this........this is so much better
Some critics say that Ulrich was one of the last cyclists to win the Tour clean. If that is true then was he able to beat Lance if he doped? Or no one clean could have gotten on to the podium during that era?. Lance declared that EPO gives you +10% performance and Lance won mountain stages looking fresh but on the other hand Jan Ulrich, his face showed the effort and the suffering that it was for him to climb with the best at the mountain stages.
I suppose that Jan could steal at least one TDF title from Lance if he cut more weight before the tour. He needed just a little bit more of dedication as he was very close to Lance - especially in 2003. Tyler Hamilton in his book "Secret race" wrote that it was not possible to be in top 40 without blood doping at that time and I am much of the same opinion. If EPO upgraded Lance by 10% it means he was High-responder to this hormone. This means Jan Ullrich was competing with a "beast" even if he was on the same specific too.
I don’t think anyone has suggested Ullrich was clean in 1997. Virtually the whole Telekom team has admitted to EPO use. Your suggestion is ludicrous
@@RoadBikersPoznan I agree I think Jan had a problem with the off season. He liked to party and was known to gain weight from his off season eating and drinking habits which had to have a somewhat negative effect on his training regime. Whereas Lance seemed to be the polar opposite during the off season. He would train exclusively with the Tour as his goal. He would pre ride many of the routes that he an Johan felt would be crucial stages. His strength was his unwavering focus on winning the Tour.
@@jjmoto65 exactly. Also I think when Ullrich and Armstrong met for the first time in 2000 Lance was more hungry as his previous title was won during absence of Pantani and Ullrich who were considered as favorites. Lance wanted to prove he is the best and was totally focused on the tour. After winning in 2000 Lance build psychological edge over Jan who become "the Eternal second". But still Jan was outstanding player who pushed Lance to his limits.
@@RoadBikersPoznan I remember Ulrich falling in the 2nd TT that year. What a race that was.
If Jan was just a little more mature he would have won all Armstrong’s titles
I think it should be Birth of the Kaiser. Born doesn’t make sense.
You are right. I am gonna change it.