At the presentation of the gran fondo, we experienced an emotional reunion with Joseba Beloki, whom Ulrich hadn't seen since his crash in the 2003 Tour. At age 13, Jan Ullrich could do an hour-long track stand on his bike (balancing it without going forward), that's unreal.

Jan Ullrich: The Best There Never Was - Goodreads

Ullrich was one of my favourite cyclists, watching him in the Tour de France against Armstrong in the early 2000’s, has stuck in my memory ever since. In the recent ESPN documentary on Lance Armstrong, the Texan reveals he travelled to Mallorca to visit Ullrich in 2018 and help the rider he describes as "the most important person in my life".

This disconnected process is felt in the book and I felt it lacks the cohesion and unifying overview I wanted. He is the author of Eddy Merckx: The Cannibal, Mountain High and Mountain Higher, and has collaborated with Mark Cavendish on Boy Racer, At Speed and Tour de Force. Zijn oorspronkelijke discipline en strikte volgzaamheid wordt door de auteur als positief gevolg van dit verleden bekeken. Even if he crashes in the Vuelta and then has to have surgery and be out for three weeks, he comes back and wins.

Jan Ullrich, The Best There Never Was by Daniel Friebe Jan Ullrich, The Best There Never Was by Daniel Friebe

Book Review: Jan Ullrich was a ‘Power House’ of a rider and many people predicted that he would be winning everything that came his way. The absence of Ullrich’s own voice is a strength and not a weakness; his shyness and insecurities meant he rarely had much to say for himself anyway. In late September of this year, Ullrich appeared on Lance Armstrong's podcast The Move where he said that he almost suffered the same fate as Marco Pantani due to his issues with drugs and alcohol. He put close to a minute into ‘extra-terrestrial’ tester Miguel Indurain who would go on to win the Olympic time trial that year and more than two minutes into the man who would win silver in the Olympic time test, Abraham Olano, the German riding at a 50 kph plus average.He collaborated with cycling superstar Mark Cavendish on the bestselling Boy Racer - My Journey to Tour de France Record Breaker. Who could blame the organisers with the financial clout and resources of the USA and his celebrity status after surviving cancer. I like writing offbeat features and eating too much bread when working out on the road at bike races. Both Ullrich and Armstrong were embroiled in doping scandals in the final years of their careers: and eventually banned and publicly shamed.