On Feb 26, 3:57 pm, Simon Brooke <
[email protected]> wrote:
> in message <[email protected]>, 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.