Cycling Betting - Famous Cyclists
Eddy Merckx
Jan Ullrich was born on December 2, 1973 in Rostock, Germany. He is a successful German professional road bicycle racer, educated in the sports training system of the German Democratic Republic, and he attended the SC Dynamo sports school in Berlin in 1986. In 1997, he was the first German to win the Tour de France. His victorious ride in the Tour de France led to a bicycle sports boom in Germany.
He went on to achieve five second place finishes, along with a fourth place in 2004 and a third place finish in 2005. Ullrich has also won gold and silver medals in the Olympics 2000 in Sydney, and in the general classification of the 1999 Vuelta a España. After his incredible successes, Ullrich became a professional member of Team Telekom.
At the age of 23, Ullrich was also one of the youngest winners ever. He was chosen "sports person of the year" in Germany in 1997. For the 2004 season, Ullrich returned to T-Mobile team. Ullrich won the Tour de Suisse during his preparation for the Tour de France; he finished in fourth place just 8:50 behind Armstrong and T-Mobile teammate Andreas Klöden finished second and Ivan Basso third
For 2005, Ullrich again captained the talented T-Mobile squad. As was his normal routine to prepare for Le Tour de France, Ullrich maintained a low profile for much of the 2005 early season campaign, surfacing to test his preparedness in the 2005 Tour de Suisse, which he finished third after Aitor González (Team Euskaltel) and Michael Rogers (Team Quick Step).
The day before the 2005 Tour de France, during a training ride, Ullrich had an accident. He was closely following (drafting) his accompanying team car when it stopped unexpectedly quickly. He was unable to stop and plowed into the back windshield, narrowly avoiding cutting a major artery by several millimeters. He was not wearing a helmet at the time.
During the 2005 Tour de France, Ullrich was passed by Lance Armstrong in the first stage time trial, after starting a minute before him. Ullrich fell again in the mountains. During several other moments in the Tour, he could not keep up with Armstrong or Ivan Basso. Resigning himself to never beating Armstrong, Ullrich began focusing on finishing ahead the surprise star of the mountains, Rasmussen, for a podium position in the general classification.
Ullrich's career is coming to its end; Jan has stated he will likely quit after the season of 2007. But however, he seems more motivated then ever to win at least one either the tour or the Giro. He began his preparation for the 2006 season early with his mentor Rudy Pevanage finally back in the T-mobile staff and watching his every move. The latest reports are that Jan is indeed in much better shape then the years before and is ready for what could be his second victory in the Tour de France.
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