Greatest Loser?

TrekDedicated

I know what LA says about him. I know what everyone says about him. I think he is a beast.

Let me try to clarify what I met. JU has sooo much talent, but he just lacks the mental focus/drive to train to his fullest potential, and as a result, he is only cheating himself.

Lantern rouge? Please educate me, I have no idea who/what that is?

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eddie22

I believe the Lantern Rouge is the poor sap who finishes last on GC. I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong.

I agree Jan is a very gifted athlete and is by no means a loser, however, one cannot say he is really amazing but lacks dedication and drive in his training. The true champions are focused on winning and only winning. It appears Jan gets distracted from his goals. Or that should be goal, LA only trains to compete in one race every year.

Sprinter_989

Just 1 question how does Jan get distracted??? Examples ????

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keydates

He takes long vacations off from cycling.

mitosis

Lantern Rouge (the red lantern at the back of the train) is the last cyclist on tour. The postition carries great prestige, much greater than second last.

Jan also likes to eat and party - more distraction and going against what he needs to do to use his immense talent.

limerickman

Cycling around Switzerland with Tobias Steinhauser doesn't exactly depict
someone who should be training hard.

Year after year we have to listen to and witness Ullrich training.
I would prefer to see him racing in to fitness.

mojomarc

I'd go for Poulidor myself, but Ulrich does have to rank up there as one of the greatest "losers" of the tour. After all, if he does have all that talent, which I certainly believe he does, then the fact he can't get the most out of it against Armstrong should be considered a fault, especially since most of the consensus seems to be that it's laziness in the offseason that has done him in. Of course, if you dig back into the the early history of the tour, it's hard not to rank Eugene Cristophe as the greatest loser--this guy, riding in the days when support cars were not allowed and riders were required to carry all the equipment themselves, broke his forks in descents not once, but twice, the first time forcing him to go searching in a nearby village (the forge itself is actually a national historic landmark in France, just down from the summit of the Tourmalet) for a forge to remake his forks while the tour director watched him for four hours to ensure that no local blacksmith helped him out, which would have been illegal. He went from five minutes up to four hours down, losing the race ultimately, because of bad luck. No matter how sorry people feel for JU, it's not even close here.

mitosis

No one has said they are feeling sorry for Jan, more they are frustrated that he hasn't realised his talent.

It is still hard to see, with Ullrich's record, how anyone can call him a loser.

This is not the record of a loser
http://cbs.sportsline.com/cycling/riders/page/400058

Morpheus

QUOTE "Lantern rouge? Please educate me, I have no idea who/what that is?"

OK, TrekDedicated, now we know who we are dealing with. Go get yourself a few Cycle Sports and a few cycling books and come back when you know a little about the sport!!

TrekDedicated

Oh man, I'm sorry I am not the genius you are. Please. Get off my case. So far, 2 of your 10 posts are just hounding me, get a life. More importantly, go get on your 'steel frame' and start actually riding. You know nothing about me nor do you deserve to know anything about me.. I wouldn't waste my time talking to you.

Thank you for telling me, eddie and mitosis. Learn something new everyday.

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meehs

Hahaha! You got that right!

Ullrich has done a lot more winning than he has done losing. He's a great cyclist. Greatest loser? No. Not a loser at all.

renoster

Quite a ridiculous question, but understandable given the pathetic modern notion that only the person finishing in 1st place matters - in sports, politics, business, etc. etc.

I put it to you that there is not one loser amongst every participant in the TdF, let alone every finisher. To be selected to ride in the tour is in itself an acknowledgement that you are among the top in the sport.

Unfortunately because we have become so blindly focused on one or two competitors we are bored with a rehash of the same information on Lance and Jan while learning very little about the fascinating lives of some of the other riders in the peleton. Hell, more people know which blend of coffee Lance drinks than in which part of Norway Thor Hushovd was born. Anybody know who Stephane Goubert is? Just a guy who finished in the top 20 of the Tour de France.

kuhlpinkdash

I am a big fan of Jan....but I have to say its hard to compare him with Lance..

I mean USPS is a pretty damn good team and they only focus on the gc while T-mobile has to look out for zabel too...and i mean honestly with people like hincapie at your side you've always got an advantage

It would be nice to see them compete in similar races throughout a whole season, see how LA goes racing in a few more events...its easy to say he deserves to win because he focuses the most but some of the other guys have other actual races to focus on too...

TrekDedicated

Just in case you didn't read the entire topic... I tried to specify my topic cause I was getting unneccessary slack..

I know what LA says about him. I know what everyone says about him. I think he is a beast.

**Let me try to clarify what I met. JU has sooo much talent, but he just lacks the mental focus/drive to train to his fullest potential, and as a result, he is only cheating himself.**


I don't think the only person that finishes first matters btw

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