Jan Ullrich quits

elyob said:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aHhhvRyAFsUU&refe...

A disappointing end to a (generally) disappointing career. Oh what
could have been if he'd only managed to stay away from the Balck
Forest gateau during a couple of winters at least?

in message <[email hidden]>, elyob

(') said:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aHhhvRyAFsUU&refer=germany

Well, I've never been an Ullrich fan, but I think that's very sad. His
career has effectively been destroyed by innuendo. I'm not saying that he
wasn't guilty of doping - we'll probably never know whether he was or
wasn't, because the only evidence that has ever been made public is
tenuous and circumstantial at best, and although if he is guilty the
Spanish authorities must have conclusive evidence (i.e. the blood), they
haven't made any moves to reveal what they know (nor do I think they can,
since Ullrich would not have committed any crime in Spain).

However, I have to say that I'm now doubtful whether any of the cyclists
whose names were tarnished in the Operacion Puerto row were actually
guilty of anything. And I think it's appalling that [censored] Pound can go
around destroying people's careers and livelihoods through rumour,
insinuation and innuendo without facing any sort of comeback.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; L'etat c'est moi -- Louis XVI
;; I... we... the Government -- Tony Blair

in message <[email hidden]>, Bronzie

(') said:

elyob said:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aHhhvRyAFsUU&refe...

A disappointing end to a (generally) disappointing career. Oh what
could have been if he'd only managed to stay away from the Balck
Forest gateau during a couple of winters at least?

Well, they shouldn't have had it in the back of the pace car...
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/tour05/news/?id=jul05/jul02news

(legend has it that there were cream cakes for the team in the back of the
car, and they, errmmm, cushioned the impact...)

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; All in all you're just another nick in the ball
-- Think Droid

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, elyob

Well, I've never been an Ullrich fan, but I think that's very sad. His
career has effectively been destroyed by innuendo.

Interesting quote from CyclingNews article:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=features/2007/ullrich_retirement07

"A philosophical Ullrich denounced claims that he has in anyway
damaged the sport's reputation in Germany, going as far to imply that
he's the reason for the sport's growth in his homeland. "Cycling was
unknown in Germany ten years ago. There was only one pro team and it
had great trouble being invited to the Tour in '95," he stated. "And
where are we now? We have three ProTour teams, many big names, many
big races, such as the Deutschland Tour, and millions of fans, with
more fans every year. We have become one of the leading cycling
nations. So, have I damaged cycling or helped it?""

Makes you think "Would the UK media and public get into the sport more
if we had a really big name to follow?". Appearances suggest that
this is the case in Germany as no doubt about, cycling has gone much
higher profile there since Ullrich arrived on the scene at the age of
22 being tipped by many as being able to win the next 10 TdFs.

on 27/02/2007, Bronzie supposed :

Quoted message said:

Makes you think "Would the UK media and public get into the sport more
if we had a really big name to follow?".

A British rider who won the TdF would definitely get a lot of media
exposure. Obviously, he have to do Celebrity Big Brother to get it.

--
Simon

Simon D wrote on 27/02/2007 20:45 +0100:

Quoted message said:

on 27/02/2007, Bronzie supposed :

Quoted message said:

Makes you think "Would the UK media and public get into the sport more
if we had a really big name to follow?".

A British rider who won the TdF would definitely get a lot of media
exposure. Obviously, he have to do Celebrity Big Brother to get it.

Not so. Nicole won the Women's TdeF last year and got no media
attention whatsoever for it.

--
Tony

"...has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least
wildly inaccurate..."
Douglas Adams; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

in message <[email hidden]>, Tony Raven

(') said:

Simon D wrote on 27/02/2007 20:45 +0100:

Quoted message said:

on 27/02/2007, Bronzie supposed :

Quoted message said:

Makes you think "Would the UK media and public get into the sport more
if we had a really big name to follow?".

A British rider who won the TdF would definitely get a lot of media
exposure. Obviously, he have to do Celebrity Big Brother to get it.

Not so. Nicole won the Women's TdeF last year and got no media
attention whatsoever for it.

Look at the blizzard of gold medals British cyclists - Vicky Pendleton,
Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins, Wendy Houvenaghel, Rob Hayles, Paul Manning,
Ed Clancy - at this weekend's Manchester round of the World Cup track
event. We have really good cyclists at the moment, and we have a lot of
great youngsters bubbling under. And virtually no media coverage at all.
Of course, that's partly because British Cycling have concentrated on
track riding, and we might get a bit more profile if they put together a
serious road squad - but we have plenty of 'names to follow'.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

There are no messages. The above is just a random stream of
bytes. Any opinion or meaning you find in it is your own creation.

It happens that Tony Raven formulated :

Quoted message said:

Simon D wrote on 27/02/2007 20:45 +0100:

Quoted message said:

on 27/02/2007, Bronzie supposed :

Quoted message said:

Makes you think "Would the UK media and public get into the sport more
if we had a really big name to follow?".

A British rider who won the TdF would definitely get a lot of media
exposure. Obviously, he have to do Celebrity Big Brother to get it.

Not so. Nicole won the Women's TdeF last year and got no media attention
whatsoever for it.

Exactly. She didn't do CBB, did she?

--
Simon