Ulrich Press Conference..

[bostondrunk]

Anyone know what time (EST) this is supposed to happen?

[AgilisMerlin]

amerliN

[bostondrunk]

Like every single other pro racer.

[zeroking17]

Anyone know what time (EST) this is supposed to happen?

Scheduled for Monday, 11:00 a.m. in Germany. (Which is 5:00 a.m. EST, I guess.)

http://janullrich.de/index.php?id=17&dat_id=13947

[Frank]

Scheduled for Monday, 11:00 a.m. in Germany. (Which is 5:00 a.m. EST, I guess.)

http://janullrich.de/index.php?id=17&dat_id=13947

Press statement at the 26.02.2007 Thursday, 22 February 2007

Dear fans

How already the media to take was, will take place on Monday, the 26.02.2007, a press statement of me.

This announcement provided naturally for turbulence and stretched ask many about.

Therefore I am happy to be able to announce you that the press statement is sent live on N24 at the 26.02. from 11.00 clock.

I would like to ask you to await the transmission because then all questions are cleared.

Thank you very much for your understanding and your dear supports.

Your

[Elefantino]

Rough translation from Fishbabel:

Fans of the cycling:

I the media have said to have drugs taken of the illegal. This is truth as I see to it.

I will tomorrow at 11 a.m. tell announcement that I am actually woman from testing East German Olympic program.

Please to listen.

Yours to friend,

Jane

[atmo]

i just got an email from jan, who i know
from his early days in 'cross racing. i'll
snip the pertinent text and paste it here:

Lieb atmo -
Ich habe Geschlechtsverkehr mit jener Frau
monica lewinsky nicht gehabt atmo.
Ihr Freund in Sport,
ulie

much ado about nuttin' atmo...

[saab2000]

Lieb atmo -
Ich habe Geschlechtsverkehr mit jener Frau
monica lewinsky nicht gehabt atmo.
Ihr Freund in Sport,
ulie

much ado about nuttin' atmo...

Ganz genau! :beer:

[BdaGhisallo]

WOW!

I wasn't expecting a retirement announcement. I suppose we can now look forward to the "authorities" pursuing the Puerto business and eventually banning him - any way they can to save face - from competing three years after he retired!

[classic1]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/feb07/feb26news2

[bostondrunk]

This sport sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :crap: :crap: :crap:

I can't believe they railroaded him into retirement.
I'm sure just to top it off, they'll let Basso ride the Giro and the Tour...................cause he "looked his team in the eye" and told them he doesn't dope............

DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH

What a crappy way to start the week!!!!! :crap: :argue: :butt:

[Elefantino]

I wonder what this means for sales of Jan Ullrich Bicycles. (http://www.janullrich-bikes.de/?page=0&lang=en)

[sspielman]

i just got an email from jan, who i know
from his early days in 'cross racing. i'll
snip the pertinent text and paste it here:

Lieb atmo -
Ich habe Geschlechtsverkehr mit jener Frau
monica lewinsky nicht gehabt atmo.
Ihr Freund in Sport,
ulie

much ado about nuttin' atmo...


..So the DNA test was all about the stained blue dress?...If only Bill Clinton had known....

[sspielman]

This sport sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :crap: :crap: :crap:

I can't believe they railroaded him into retirement.
I'm sure just to top it off, they'll let Basso ride the Giro and the Tour...................cause he "looked his team in the eye" and told them he doesn't dope............

DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH

What a crappy way to start the week!!!!! :crap: :argue: :butt:

The whole sport is on a suicide mission, ATMO....

[bostondrunk]

The whole sport is on a suicide mission, ATMO....

I think I'd feel a whole lot better if they'd at least destroy the life of one or two FRENCH riders. They pretty much kissed Virenque's *** when he was a guilty doper.

[sspielman]

I think I'd feel a whole lot better if they'd at least destroy the life of one or two FRENCH riders. They pretty much kissed Virenque's *** when he was a guilty doper.

Bassons....

[jhcakilmer]

The whole sport is on a suicide mission, ATMO....


+1

The whole sport bases all there info on speculation and gossip, it's like the UCI is just one big highschool...or...it's like that tv commercial with all the monkeys running the company!

Seems as though we need complete reform, and not just these guys that pussy-foot around. Many changes need to be made to testing protocols, PR, and the hearing process.

I think the UCI should be held to the "burden of proof" moto that the rest of the community is subjected to, or atlead should be.

But, being in Jan's place I might have done that same thing. Personally, I think Landis is a dumb A$$ for spending all this time and money trying to prove his innocence, because even if he is innocence, it ain't going to happen, atleast under the current administration.

[Elefantino]

+1

The whole sport bases all there info on speculation and gossip, it's like the UCI is just one big highschool...or...it's like that tv commercial with all the monkeys running the company!

Seems as though we need complete reform, and not just these guys that pussy-foot around. Many changes need to be made to testing protocols, PR, and the hearing process.

I think the UCI should be held to the "burden of proof" moto that the rest of the community is subjected to, or atlead should be.

But, being in Jan's place I might have done that same thing. Personally, I think Landis is a dumb A$$ for spending all this time and money trying to prove his innocence, because even if he is innocence, it ain't going to happen, atleast under the current administration.

A) It's not now nor ever will be up to the UCI. Change is going to come from within ... from teams (Slipstream, T-Mobile, CSC) and sponsors. Someone has to say "we're willing to take the chance of riding clean" and they have to have the corporate backing to do it.

B) I'm beginning to think Landis isn't so dumb after all. Whether or not you believe him (I've gone from not to waffling), there is now more than enough resonable doubt about the testing procedure in his case to choke a horse. And maybe his case will help promote changes within that current administration, which is a loosely configured network of those monkeys in the commercial.

Or so it would seem, atmo.

[bostondrunk]

there is now more than enough resonable doubt about the testing procedure in his case to choke a horse. And maybe his case will help promote changes within that current administration, which is a loosely configured network of those monkeys in the commercial.
.

Too bad it won't make a difference. He's likely burned through a ton of $$$ already, and has already agreed essentially not to race this year (well, in France....). Its not like some team is gonna sign him on. His career is screwed. I think he could cut his losses and run, or he can drag it out for another year, spend a lot more $$$, and still be finished regardless of whether he is found guilty or not.

I think his money would be better spent suing the french lab for not following procedure.

[jhcakilmer]

[QUOTE=Elefantino]A) It's not now nor ever will be up to the UCI. Change is going to come from within ... from teams (Slipstream, T-Mobile, CSC) and sponsors. Someone has to say "we're willing to take the chance of riding clean" and they have to have the corporate backing to do it.


IMHO, I think it's all talk. For one, self-policing never works for ever, and two, I think it puts undue strain on a team. They already have enough to worry about. Internal drug testing cost quite a bit, and requires a lot of time, and energy.

Also, what is the purpose of the UCI, and WADA, if they're not required to police the sport. I'm not like many of the fans out there, I don't think everyone cheats......but a few bad apples makes everyone look bad.

Also, I think they could make relatively easy changes like
1. If there is a positive, then another lab should also be testing an extra sample taken at the same time as the first.
2. competent technicians in the labs, in the first place. I've worked in several labs, and have never seen the issues that were present in the french labs.......that's where the chimps are, apparently!

What have the teams been doing up until now? Not watching there riders? They can't tell when all of a sudden one rider is considerably strong, then previously? Basso worked his way up the ranks, it's not like all of sudden he started winning everything.........? And if Ullrich's been doping, then he hasn't been doing a very good job of it!

[David Kirk]

It all feels like a bad joke with no punch line.

I wasn't sure if my enthusiasm could drop any more but I guess it could.

Dave

[soulspinner]

A) It's not now nor ever will be up to the UCI. Change is going to come from within ... from teams (Slipstream, T-Mobile, CSC) and sponsors. Someone has to say "we're willing to take the chance of riding clean" and they have to have the corporate backing to do it.

B) I'm beginning to think Landis isn't so dumb after all. Whether or not you believe him (I've gone from not to waffling), there is now more than enough resonable doubt about the testing procedure in his case to choke a horse. And maybe his case will help promote changes within that current administration, which is a loosely configured network of those monkeys in the commercial.

Or so it would seem, atmo.


PLUS ONE, excellent post

[harlond]

Sad news about a class sportsman. He may have doped, but I think Jan is right when he says he never cheated. The sport will be poorer without him.

[William]

http://spacemonkeypants.com/img/monkeybikes.jpg

[djg]

Too bad it won't make a difference. He's likely burned through a ton of $$$ already, and has already agreed essentially not to race this year (well, in France....). Its not like some team is gonna sign him on. His career is screwed. I think he could cut his losses and run, or he can drag it out for another year, spend a lot more $$$, and still be finished regardless of whether he is found guilty or not.

I think his money would be better spent suing the french lab for not following procedure.

Really? If he can ride pro races outside France, and seeks a pro contract, I'll bet that somebody signs him before the year's out and that they won't be the only team to try. Sure, the brand has been tarnished and certain sponsors will balk (independent of worrying about his recovery). He might not get top dollar, but if he can race again, he'll make a living.

[pdxmech13]

So that leaves the sport with no tour winners in the peloton.
Well that just makes the tour that much more wide open
Think of all the great possiblity's they can push and maybe
just mabee a frenchie can a jersey and have the pride of the country.

really just another great sad story for our stinkin rot hole of a sport.

[gdw]

I'd drop cable but Versus still shows hockey and bull riding.

[atmo]

really just another great sad story for our stinkin rot hole of a sport.
we shouldn't lose sight that it's never been any
different going back to the original tdf's as well as
the 6-days when they were held in msg. the only
thing that has changed is 1) the poison, and 2) how
news is covered atmo.

[yeehawfactor]

press conference gave me the lolz

[sspielman]

The only way out that I see is to legalise most of the performance enhancing drugs, BUT set limits and require that they be administered by a physician. The difference that I see between this and what is currently going on is that A) it no longer would deny that drug use within the peloton is nearly universal
and B) there is at least SOME consideration being given to the oversight of the riders' health

[93legendti]

So that leaves the sport with no tour winners in the peloton.
Well that just makes the tour that much more wide open
Think of all the great possiblity's they can push and maybe
just mabee a frenchie can a jersey and have the pride of the country.

really just another great sad story for our stinkin rot hole of a sport.

You mean no TdF winners, right? Still Giro and Vuelta winners riding. Maybe Gibo Simoni can win the TdF now.

[jhcakilmer]

The only way out that I see is to legalise most of the performance enhancing drugs, BUT set limits and require that they be administered by a physician. The difference that I see between this and what is currently going on is that A) it no longer would deny that drug use within the peloton is nearly universal
and B) there is at least SOME consideration being given to the oversight of the riders' health

It would be extremely dangerous to legalize many of these drugs....many of them have extremely detrimental health consiquences for one, and also you'd have the big time pros buying all the high end drugs that the rest couldn't afford.

I would say one good thing about the drug ban is that it forces those that do dope, to micro-dose, and use so little that it doesn't effect their health as greatly, plus I question how much it really aids in their preformance. Because the superior riders alreardy have high hematocrits, hormone levels, etc.......so they really can't take much, and not have it look evident. Plus if there is a lesser rider doping, and all of a sudden their hematocrit goes from 40 to 50, then obviously there is an issue.......this is just one of many examples.

I think we should should more closely track a riders physiological parameter.....like hematocrit, hormone levels, VO2 max, etc since those are the strongest indicators that something has changed.

[cpg]

Does anyone know the average lifespan of a pro cyclist? Is it better than a pro football (American) player? I hope so but my point is that I doubt we have any idea how much these guys are screwing up their health even with this supposed drup ban.

I'm with atmo on this- same as it ever was. To me it's about the racing not the racers.

Curt

[JF636]

Somewhere along the line I can't help thinking that society has to take a little blame for this whole situation. "We" love winners and the pressure to win from sponsers and the public drove this to the monster it's become. To them, the ends justify the means...until it gets messy , then they (the teams, public, UCI, etc.) call for reform. :rolleyes: How long did everyone know about doping in the pro cycling before it became a public scandal.

Yes it is the rider's fault in the end and poor desicions were made, but if it were your livelyhood on the line, how many here wouldn't be at least a little tempted.

Take Jan for instance, how many times has he been critisized or even ridiculed for not winning everything. He has one of the most impressive careers in modern pro cycling.....except the "beating Lance at the TdF" will always hang over his head.

Until society as a whole can accept that second best is still good, I don't ever see this to go away, and that goes for any sport.

[paulh]

-same as it ever was.

[rwsaunders]

Barry overheard talking to Mark at first base: "You mean they test those crazy lookin' guys in the tight pants for dope and actually catch 'em? Why would anyone in their right mind do that for a livin', when you can sign 1 year extensions in baseball for $10 mil and still get juiced?"

Mark to Barry: "That's what I told Conseco just last week when we were at our retreat at BALCO."

[BBB]

Ullrich retiring even made it into the Aussie media. See below:

www.theage.com.au/news/sport/a-sporting-phenomenon/2007/02/27/1172338586905.html

Health concerns aside, I don't think legalising drugs is the way to go. What sort of message does this give to junior cyclists and more importantly, their parents? While it would stop the rot, or the appearence of rot in pro cycling, it would shoot the sport in the foot in the long run.

While atmo is correct that drugs and cycling have been holding hands since the year dot, the sport should be taking more active and long term steps to clean its act up. This would require a major change in attitude. How you do this I am not entirely sure. Educate junior racers? Long term health/performance monitoring? A change of leadership at WADA? A more bullet proof testing regime? A uniform dispute resolution process (see the disparity between Basso and Ullrich)? Self-regulation in the T-Mobile/CSC mould?

[pdxmech13]

I suppose atmo is some what rite here.
News is just news and journo's only can
rite what gets leaked by sources weither
they are true or not.

I just wish they'd let themride bikes again like its 1969 yo !

[saab2000]

I'm going to go back to watching more legitimate sports like roller derby and pro wrestling.

[michael white]

saab's right. . . you never hear of bowlers or pingpongers failing their urine tests, do you? Nuff said.

[saab2000]

saab's right. . . you never hear of bowlers or pingpongers failing their urine tests, do you? Nuff said.

Televised poker is where it's at now!

[wasfast]

Does anyone know the average lifespan of a pro cyclist? Is it better than a pro football (American) player? I hope so but my point is that I doubt we have any idea how much these guys are screwing up their health even with this supposed drup ban.

I'm with atmo on this- same as it ever was. To me it's about the racing not the racers.

Curt

In general, I "think" cyclists live longer but looking at the EPO related deaths in the 90's makes you think you have to look at it by era.

I think many ex NFL's have a lower quality of life as the joint issues (knees, shoulders, hips) would make getting around tough. The "size enhancer" drugs don't seem to have caused significant life shortening, based on the deaths reported in the media. Of course, I trust the media explicitly :cool:

[Climb01742]

why is ivan in and jan out? the inconsistent way this has played out for those two guys -- innocent or guilty -- seems manifestly unfair.

[sspielman]

why is ivan in and jan out? the inconsistent way this has played out for those two guys -- innocent or guilty -- seems manifestly unfair.

exactly...or why was Armstrong in and Pantani out?

[pdxmech13]

pirates are always in according to my book

[gt6267a]

why is ivan in and jan out? the inconsistent way this has played out for those two guys -- innocent or guilty -- seems manifestly unfair.

yes, i want to know this as well!

[93legendti]

why is ivan in and jan out? the inconsistent way this has played out for those two guys -- innocent or guilty -- seems manifestly unfair.

Climb, it seems Jan elected to retire, I don't think he was suspended. According to the article cited above: "...At a press conference this morning in Hamburg, Germany, (Jan) said, "I could ride again immediately, I could get a license, I am fit, as fit as last year and could immediately have a team. I have seven offers, including ProTour teams..."

[72gmc]

One is a current darling of the sport, beloved by his country and anointed by the Texan as the next thing. The other is a former darling of the sport, mistrusted by his country and submerged by years of poor decisions.

Hello, darling. Goodbye, darling. Fairness don't figure into it.

[Climb01742]

Climb, it seems Jan elected to retire, I don't think he was suspended. According to the article cited above: "...At a press conference this morning in Hamburg, Germany, (Jan) said, "I could ride again immediately, I could get a license, I am fit, as fit as last year and could immediately have a team. I have seven offers, including ProTour teams..."

but i wonder how much of his motivation to retire was due to his ongoing challenge of getting some national federation to grant him a license? the swiss were still hemming and hawing. the italian federation "cleared" ivan and bingo, he's signed by disco. i just wonder if the swiss or someone had cleared him as quickly as ivan was, whether jan would have retired? i'm just guessin' but i think jan wearied of the fight ahead. had jan been italian, he'd be racin', i bet.

[93legendti]

but i wonder how much of his motivation to retire was due to his ongoing challenge of getting some national federation to grant him a license? the swiss were still hemming and hawing. the italian federation "cleared" ivan and bingo, he's signed by disco. i just wonder if the swiss or someone had cleared him as quickly as ivan was, whether jan would have retired? i'm just guessin' but i think jan wearied of the fight ahead. had jan been italian, he'd be racin', i bet.

According to the quote above, seems like it was zilch. Most likely he ate too many of his mother's cakes this winter and he couldn't take another early season of writers laughing at his belly. :)

[BBB]

why is ivan in and jan out? the inconsistent way this has played out for those two guys -- innocent or guilty -- seems manifestly unfair.

Good question. And it seems to me to be unfair. Best I can gather, following the allegations that surfaced before the TdF last year, individual national federations decided to investigate allegations involving their own riders. So the Italian federation investigated Basso and the Swiss investigated Ullrich. These investigations were hamstrung as the Spanish judiciary refused to release the offending report meaning the national federations had little in the way of 'evidence'. In Basso's case they got on the with the matter and conducted a hearing and cleared Basso. In Ullrich's case there seemed to be a lot of delay by the Swiss federation and a lot of legal manouvering by Ullrich's lawyers. As I understand the matter has not been dealt with. Other countries have cleared their riders. The Spanish judiciary are still dealing with the matter and some riders have been to court to give evidence. What is precisely going on there, I have no idea (although there was a recent report that the lab testing the blood samples has not been paid and was refusing to do further work, or something like that). The cynic in me thinks something will happen before July this year.

What I would like to know is what were the TdF organisers and team directors shown before the start of the race last year that made CSC and T-Mobile suspend Basso and Ullrich and why this information was able to be made available before the start of the TdF, yet when national federations have requested information they have been deliberately hamstrung?

[Elefantino]

pirates are always in according to my book

Mine too.

[1centaur]

In Jan's case, I believe T-Mobile was shown circumstantial evidence (Fuentes lists that were suggestive, at the least, would be my guess since even today it appears there is nothing better than circumstantial evidence in the bag) and then they had their riders swear they had never been in contact with Fuentes. They had records showing phone calls between Jan and Fuentes, or something like that, and so they viewed Jan as a liar and ultimately fired him.

Thereafter, the Swiss federation clearly viewed their task differently from the Italian federation; if it had been the opposite, maybe Jan would have signed with Disco BUT Ivan is younger and has a better work ethic and probably lower $ demands and a smaller entourage, so Ivan still would have been the preferred pick, it seems to me.

Finally, with no clear end in sight and his youth slipping away and seven presumably lower dollar/lower entourage deals the only ones out there, Jan, who has been fighting losing battles on and off the road for years, just packed it in.

That, or he knows what's coming and isn't pretending (any more) like all the others.

[AgilisMerlin]

was he drug tested at the conference ? :eek:




amerliN