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1337wtfomgbbq · 5 months

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The Lore behind Ullrichstrong

I have been asked to explain the lore behind Ullrichstrong by @lalalabro and, after some drafts and back and forth, I have decided to go in as much of a chronological order of events as I can.

Lance puts it very well when he said in 2018: "He was the most important person in my life. Nobody scared me, motivated me. The other guys… no disrespect to them, didn’t get me up early. He got me up early. He put the fear of god in me."

Lance and Jan met first during the UCI roads in Oslo in 1993. Where Lance raced as a pro and Jan as an amateur.

Lance stuck out because he beat Miguel Fucking Indurain, Jan's literal idol, in the pouring rain. Meanwhile Jan beat the other amateurs in the final sprint.

Both of them still remember this to this day, and Jan even revealed that from that day on he followed Lance's career. And the only other two he was following religiously before that were Miguel Indurain and Marco Pantani.

They would meet again only in 1996 during the Tour de France. But only for about six days as Lance abandoned the Tour after stage 6, only to be diagnosed with cancer.

This pic was taken there.

And this says more than 1000 words actually. Because Jan's English was abysmal back then and he relied heavily on his teammates for translations. But he seemed to have had no problem communicating with Lance here.

Lance would be at the road side during the second solo time trial of the Tour de France in 1997. The year Jan won the Tour de France. And he remembers thinking how nobody would be able to beat Jan for ten years.

And you gotta understand, based on Jan's performance at the Tour de France in 1996 and 1997 everyone thought Jan was the next Indurain. That he would go on and win ten Tours in a row, with nobody able to beat him. You had people like Poulidor at the roadside being baffled and saying, "it's Merckx!"

Instead Jan would end up like Poulidor, the eternal second to Lance Armstrong.

They would only meet again during the UCI Roads at the end of 1999, where Jan beat Lance in the the time trial, after Jan lost the Tour in 1998 to Marco Pantani and couldn't compete in the Tour in 1999 due to injury.

Jan did manage to win the Vuelta in 1999, which was held after the Tour, and which he only rode to, "get back into it".

It's also worth mentioning that back in 1999 Lance winning the Tour was kinda smiled at because his greatest competition, aka Jan and Marco, weren't there.

2000 Jan was unable to beat Lance during the Tour de France but something interesting did happen during stage 15.

Lance's great rivalry that year was with Marco Pantani, who he had the greatest bitch fight ever with.

During stage 15 Marco started an attack on the first of five passes that evoked the move he made in 1998, which destroyed Jan and gifted him the yellow jerseys. Lance, completely riled up, was telling his team to allow Marco to go, thinking he would blow up after riding hard the whole day and they could just blow past him.

Well, Marco did blow up, but so did Lance. Allowing for Richard Virenque and Jan to ride away and finish the stage as first and second.

This picture, taken during that stage, is pretty funny given what would happen a year later.

At the end of the season Jan was also able to remind Lance that he was still a force to be reckoned with as he beat Lance during the Olympics and took home a gold and silver medal.

The 2001 Tour de France is where it really kicks off.

There were some... situations.

"The Look". A bush detour. And a handshake.

• "The Look": during stage 10 Lance faked being in bad shape only to roar back and leave everyone, including Jan, in the dust. He looked back before powering away, at his teammate Chechu Rubiera, but the angle makes it look like he looked straight at Jan.

• When Jan misjudged a corner during the descend on stage 13 Lance waited for him.

• At their arrival at Luz Ardiden, after a hard day of fighting they crossed the finish line almost side by side. Lance actually easing up and allowing Jan to cross first, and Jan reached back and shook his hand.

In 2002 Jan wasn't at the the Tour de France because he got busted for doping and subsequently kicked off his team, Telekom.

And Lance actually went on record advising Jan to race for his former team captain Bjarne Riis.

The 2003 Tour de France is Ullrichstrong big bang.

It was the heat wave of 2003 and as Jan operates amazingly in the heat he absolutely smoked Lance, who doesn't handle heat at all.

The race was so close that year that Lance was considering getting off his bike and abandoning during the first time trial (which Jan won, putting 1 and a half minutes into him). Their time difference was so close before the last, and deciding, time trial that Jan went with the sprinters on stage 18 for ONE bonus second.

But what really cements them as sporting rivalry of epic proportions is what happened during stage 15.

Lance's handle bars caught on a fans bag and he and Ivan Mayo went down, Jan barely avoiding hitting them. And despite Jan's directeur sportif, Rudy Pevenage, telling him to go ahead Jan waited for Lance. Later saying if he had won the stage, or the Tour, because of taking advantage of Lance's bad luck, the stage and the Tour was not worth winning.

And you gotta understand, this is not AT ALL like what Lance did in 2001. Back then the jersey was not in play, in 2003 it ABSOLUTELY WAS. Jan literally passed up his chance to win a second Tour, to be fair toward Lance.

Jan even revealed how he was relieved when Lance was back with them after his fall. While Lance said he would have been annoyed. But, as Lance says, "Jan is just a sweetheart."

And, what you also gotta understand, Jan was the only one Lance was afraid of. Pantani, Mayo, Basso, Vinokurov? They may have been annoyances, but only Jan made him get up earlier and put the fear of god in him.

(And that is despite Pantani working him over so hard in 2000 Lance admittedly considered abandoning the Tour).

Lance apparently trolled the internet and mined contacts to get info on Jan, to the point Tyler Hamilton thought Lance had an intern doing it for him before realizing Lance was doing it HIMSELF.

He would force Postal's team doctor Michele Ferrari to dawn disguises and spy on Jan.

Johan Bruyneel, Lance's directeur sportif, would also mine contacts.

They were watching Jan like fucking hawks.

(Granted Jan's side was pretty much doing the same, although not as obsessively).

In 2004 Jan was back in the flock with Telekom but his Tour de France didn't go all too well as he was severely sick.

He actually noticed early on that he was too sick to compete correctly and encouraged his young teammate Alexander Klöden to attack instead. He would help him as much as he could along the way.

One instance to note though was during the last time trial. Bruyneel said: "You know, Lance and Jan never really spoke that much. They basically didn't speak, but I'll always remember being with Lance at the doping control after he'd won the final time trial in 2004, and Ullrich coming over and giving Lance a hug. He said, "Ach, come on, it's only a bike race.""

This was the only Tour de France Jan raced where he missed the podium.

In 2005 Jan was doing better and managed to come in third. But what's really amazing is what happend after.

Not only the final podium where Lance kept saying, "I'm gonna get to Basso," only to circle right back and gush about Jan.

You see, Jan actually showed up at Lance's victory party, took the mike and gave a speech in Lance's honor in English.

Lance himself says he wouldn't have been man enough to do the same for Jan, and he still tears up to this day while telling this story.

Lance retired in 2005 and Jan was forced to retire after the Fuentes scandal in 2006.

Before Jan could try and win a second Tour in Lance's absence. Even while saying a win in Lance's absence is worth less.

And even after Lance came clean about his doping in 2013, and everything came out about what a dick he was (forcing teammates to dope as well, intimidating whistle blowers, to name just two) Jan maintained, "He never did anything to me, but was always fair and respectful."

Lance apparently decided to hand the 'get out of jail free'-card to the one guy who was the biggest threat to him.

And you gotta understand, Lance literally destroyed people back then. He was not just a grade A asshole, he was insane, and he could have EASILY went and did the same fucking thing to Jan.

But he never did.

They didn't really seem to have had much contact after their retirements.

Jan struggling immensely with depression and burnout after being forced to retire and deciding to not confess to his doping, opting instead to stay silent and shoulder the burden on his own.

He wouldn't even be able to touch a bicycle until 2010.

There were sporadic mentions of Lance from Jan.

How he tried to connect in 2010 but was unable to.

How it isn't good for the Tour de France as a whole that Lance's wins were taken away in 2013.

In 2017 Lance attacked ASO on twitter for not inviting Jan to the start of the Tour de France in Düsseldorf.

Jan, at this point, had already been in a downward spiral, that Lance, admittedly, knew about.

Lemme make it short, Jan was having a life crisis after his wife left him and took the kids in 2018 and was in the midst of destroying himself with alcohol and coke.

His family and friends, old teammates, even his old trainers, the German movie star Til Schweiger, all tried to help and didn't manage to.

So in a last ditch effort Mike Baldinger, Jan's best friend, called Lance to come in and talk to Jan.

Saying Lance is the only man Jan respects and fears too much not to listen to.

So Lance flew in to visit Jan in rehab. And mind you, Lance was willing to fly in lawyers and doctors to help Jan. He organized rehab in the US in fact.

That's not exactly the route Jan took, but his route also led him to 2021, where he had pretty well recovered from his 2018 fall.

It was the first time Jan went on his (now) yearly Mallorca Tour with Lance, George Hincapie and Johan Bruyneel.

During the podcast they recorded Lance revealed how his wife asked him if Jan was still okay and he said, "Anna asked me that the other day. She asked, Jan's still good right? And I said, I'm pretty sure I would be one of the first calls. And I would be on the next flight."

And at the end of 2021, as Jan now revealed in his new amazon documentary, he had a relapse while on vacation in Cuba.

On the flight back to Mexiko he apparently went berserk and had to be taken off the plane and to the hospital. And when Mike learned what happened he called Lance and asked him to go to Mexico and take care of Jan, which Lance did IMMEDIATELY.

Lance explained how he watched Jan come to in his hospital bed and how Jan looked at him so confused and shocked and how he just nodded and went, "Yeah. I'm here."

So Mike and Lance get Jan into another rehad and I find out in the news that Lance APPARENTLY gifted Jan a black ring with stones on the inside for GOOD LUCK?!?!

(Yeah sure "good luck", you two are married)

Add to that, ALWAYS when asked why Lance is helping Jan, why he is going so hard for him, he says, "because I love him."

2022 marked the 25th anniversary of Jan winning the Tour and Lance actually agreed to be interviewed for the documentary series "Being Jan Ullrich" and for the book "Jan Ullrich - the best there never was" by Daniel Friebe that was also released that year.

Even going so far as to telling Friebe that if he was out to write a hatchet piece about Jan, to not even bother coming to Aspen because he would not utter one bad word about Jan.

At the end of 2022 Jan went to California with Paul Ripke (who he did a podcast with an became fast friends with. He is the photographer behind the BottAss calendar btw) and they met up with Lance, and the two of them went to a basketball game together. And who knows what else they got up to😏

Jan saying in a post on instagram: "Lance and I had a lot of mutual respect even as opponents. After our careers, we both went through a lot and were able to understand how the other is doing. And then when I needed help, Lance was there the next day. That's when you realize: I'm really important to him, it's not just a blah blah, there's something behind it. It's a great friendship.”

This year (2023) Lance also agreed to be interviewed for the documentary series Jan did with amazon.

And of course they also met again on Mallorca.

During that podcast Lance was surprised to hear Jan wanted to be at George's Fondo in 2024, and planned to do something similar himself (with George visiting). He stopped the two dead in their tracks and declared, "if Jan is gonna be there I am gonna be there." And that after George was ribbing him for not having been at his Fondo for some years now. But if Jan's gonna be there Lance is gonna be there.

Or when Lance explained that he was fitter this year because apparently George called him fat in April, only to turn to Jan and assure him, "I would never say that to you."

Because, as Lance openly admits, back in the day he was obsessively studying Jan's body, just to know his level of fitness before the Tour; adding to Jan's body image issues.

Then the amazon documentary dropped in November and so did the GAYEST FUCKING MAGAZINE COVER I HAVE EVER SEEN.

Seriously, whos idea was that and who okayed it??

There are probably things I skipped but their history is literally way too fucking rich.

Their story is like Senna v Prost, or Anquetil v Poulidor, you cannot tell one of their stories without also telling the other's. They are way too interwoven and way too emotionally attached to each other.

This is more than just ship tropes, and at the same time they are a walking talking ship trope and literally ship themselves.

Height difference? Check.

Age difference? Check.

Virgo x Sagittarius relationship.

East vs west trope.

Shared daddy issues.

Hot vs Cold.

They are so entirely and fundamentally different.

Lance was a natural leader and had great mental fortitude, while Jan enjoyed way more to follow a leader like Riis and struggled a lot mentally.

Where Jan had immense pressure from the German media, Lance never had any from the US.

Lance was such a dickhead during his pro years. He had a literal 'no friends' rule enforced on US Postal, forbidding his teammates from fraternizing with other teams, meanwhile Jan was such a genuinely nice guy to everyone that you are hard pressed to find someone saying or recalling something bad about him.

On one had it's fun to compare their rivalry and subsequent later friendship to other sports rivalries like Poulidor and Anquetil, or Senna and Prost, while on the other hand what Jan and Lance have is on a fundamentally different level.

Like Bruyneel said, they didn't talk a lot during the races. George even recalls how Jan would scarcely speak during races, but apparently despite this those two had the biggest level of respect and fear and admiration and even love for each other.

To the point where Lance was the literally only person able to get through to Jan at his lowest. Even his fucking mother and brothers couldn't get through to him, but Lance could.

#ullrichstrong #jan ullrich #lance armstrong #johan bruyneel #rudy pevenage #george hincapie #cycling stuff #cycling #ullrichstrong lore #there is probably stuff i missed #if you wanna know more specific stuff just ask me or dm me #i am more than willing to bust out even more info

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uphindia-world · 6 years

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Lance Armstrong's former team manager gets lifetime ban from cycling

Lance Armstrong’s former team manager gets lifetime ban from cycling

Johan Bruyneel, a former team manager to Lance Armstrong, has had his 10-year ban from cycling increased to a lifetime ban following an investigation by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Bruyneel was director of the U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams when Lance Armstrong won seven Tour de France titles between 1999 and 2005, which the American was later stripped of following…

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#Court of Arbitration for Sports #cycling #former #johan bruyneel #lance armstrong #Lausanne #lifetime ban #Pedro Celaya #Travis Tygart #United States Anti Doping Agency #us postal service #world anti doping agency

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pubcapscott · 6 years

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2018 Tour de France: Stage 11 Preview

Stage 11 of the 2018 Tour de France is described by the Tour organization as a “brutal” 108.5km mountain stage from Albertville to La Rosière Espace San Bernardo.

Greg Van Avermaet of the BMC Racing Team will start the morning in the yellow jersey, but the day looks to be one for the pure climbers, not a puncheur like Van Avermaet who is more suited to the rollers of Spring Classics.

The riders…

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#2018 Tour de France #Albertville #BMC Racing #BMC Racing Team #Egan Bernal #Greg Van Avermaet #Johan Bruyneel #Michael Rogers #mountain stage #Pello Bilbao #Rosière Espace San Bernardo #Spring Classics

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pezcyclingnews · 6 years

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Johan Bruyneel’s lifetime ban from pro cycling got me thinking about the time I hung on to his car and he joked that was how French riders got over the climbs at LeTour. I had no idea how deep in he was at the time, but you can read the story @pezcyclingnews #johanbruneel #johanbanned #rosecoloredglasses https://www.instagram.com/p/BpX91ZdBf6x/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=je8jk5b357eh

#johanbruneel #johanbanned #rosecoloredglasses

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derekdickey · 4 years

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Johan Bruyneel reveals new details of legal battle with anti-doping agencies

Former Lance Armstrong manager insists that he's paid too high a price for his involvement in cycling's EPO era.

Read the full article at Johan Bruyneel reveals new details of legal battle with anti-doping agencies on VeloNews.com.

Johan Bruyneel reveals new details of legal battle with anti-doping agencies published first on https://throttlebuff.weebly.com/

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lacronicacoruna1 · 4 years

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“No hubo conspiración contra Contador en el Tour 2009”

El belga Johan Bruyneel, director del equipo Astana en el Tour 2009, con triunfo de Alberto Contador en una estampación marcada por la polémica de convivencia con su entonces compañero estadounidense Lance Armstrong, aseguró que “aquel año no hubo ninguna conspiración” contra el ciclista castellano.

Bruyneel quiso salir al paso a unas declaraciones de Contador al youtuber Valentí San Juan en las que aseguraba que en aquel año sufrió diversos obstáculos del equipo para dispensar el liderazgo de Armstrong en su perjuicio. El extécnico belga aclaró su posición en el Podcast El Leñero.

“No sé por qué aquel Tour es ahora actualidad sin que Alberto no haya contado nada antes. Cada uno tiene su versión pero me sentí un poco aludido. No me agradó el tono que usó para dar su versión del Tour 2009”.

Bruyneel, en tono comedido quiso repasar los comentarios vertidos por Contador.

Sin rencores “No quiero atacarle, ha sido un gran campeón, el mejor por etapas de su generación en la primera mitad de su carrera, luego tuvo la desgracia de encontrarse con Froome, pero para mi ha sido uno de los mejores de la historia en carreras por etapas”.

El entonces responsable del Astana admitió que supo de antemano que seria un Tour difícil adentro del equipo, ya que era el objetivo era superar y a la vez diligenciar 2 egos de campeones.

“Solo quería ganar el Tour, no lo quería perder por nuestra culpa. Era el director del Astana, no de Contador ni de Armstrong, pero nuestra carta era Contador porque era el mejor, ganó el Tour del 2007 y Giro y Vuelta en 2008. Eso se lo dije a Armstrong en una reunión, y él me dijo, con 38 años, “ya veremos”.

Sobre la cuarta etapa de aquella estampación, cuando Contador quedó cortado en un pericón perdiendo 40 segundos con el clan principal de Armstrong, el técnico belga dijo que “la situación era buena para el equipo, ya que teníamos a 4 corredores. Fuimos adelante aún sin Contador, cualquiera hubiera hecho lo mismo”.

Tras explicar que no llevó a Benjamín Noval, hombre de confianza de Contador, por cuestiones técnicas, Bruyneel explicó la dificultad a la hora de manejar los egos de “dos machos alfa”.

Relación complicada “Entre ellos no fue relación fácil, lo vi desde la concentración del Teide, el primer día en el desayuno no hubo ni un saludo entre ellos. No obstante, aquel Tour no fue tan dramático como se ha escrito en la prensa española. Estoy decepcionado con la entrevista de Alberto Contador”.

Bruyneel, quien reside en Madrid, explicó en El Leñero que “tanto Contador como Armstrong eran dos ganadores de carácter poco fácil. “La diferencia en que con Armstrong tenía una relación personal cercana y con Contador fue más profesional, pero ninguno era fácil”.

Según explicó Contador en la entrevista, hubo de comprarse por su cuenta una rueda discoidal para la crono de Mónaco, ya que el equipo no tenía ese material a su disposición, y sí para su compañero-rival.

Había de todo “Había material de sobra para todos, teníamos 40 ruedas. Aquella temporada Armstrong corrió gratis porque no había dinero para él. Vestía el maillot de Astana, pero tenía libertad para correr con su bicicleta y sus componentes de diseño propio. Quería internacionalizar su Fundación, y hasta subastó su bicicleta de París por 500.000 dólares”.

“Si Alberto pensó que las ruedas no eran buenas y quería otras, eso no lo sé, no conozco más detalles”.

También aseguró Contador que su biciclo dormía en la habitación de su mecánico, aspecto que molestó más a Bruyneel.

“La bici estaría con su mecánico, pero porque vería peligro, eso es paranoia, en que cabeza cabe que mi equipo haga algo contra la bici de Contador, es ridículo. Alberto se aisló él mismo por su desconfianza hacía mi, pero el equipo no podía hacer nada a su bicicleta”.

Para Bruyneel “el entorno de 3-4 personas tuvieron que ver con la situación que se produjo. Contador era joven y no se lo tuve en cuenta. Ganó por ser el más fuerte, desconfió del equipo, y eso es pensar de manera muy extrema”.

Finalmente, Bruyneel se refirió a la etapa séptima en Andorra. Según Contador desobedeció las órdenes de “ir despacio y tranquilos”, por lo que decidió atacar en presencia de la sorpresa del equipo.

from La Crónica Coruña https://lacronicacoruna.com/no-hubo-conspiracion-contra-contador-en-el-tour-2009/

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lacronicacoruna · 4 years

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“No hubo conspiración contra Contador en el Tour 2009”

Bruyneel, en tono comedido quiso repasar los comentarios vertidos por Contador.

El entonces responsable del Astana admitió que supo de antemano que seria un Tour difícil adentro del equipo, ya que era el objetivo era superar y a la vez diligenciar 2 egos de campeones.

Tras explicar que no llevó a Benjamín Noval, hombre de confianza de Contador, por cuestiones técnicas, Bruyneel explicó la dificultad a la hora de manejar los egos de “dos machos alfa”.

“Si Alberto pensó que las ruedas no eran buenas y quería otras, eso no lo sé, no conozco más detalles”.

También aseguró Contador que su biciclo dormía en la habitación de su mecánico, aspecto que molestó más a Bruyneel.

from La Crónica Coruña https://lacronicacoruna.com/no-hubo-conspiracion-contra-contador-en-el-tour-2009/

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amazinghints · 5 years

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Feds chasing Lance Armstrong's ex-manager in Spain for $1.2 million

The U.S. government is trying to collect a $1.2 million judgement against Johan Bruyneel, Lance Armstrong's ex-manager who is now living in Spain.

from USATODAY - Cycling Top Stories https://ift.tt/2poo0mU via IFTTT

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itunesbooks · 5 years

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Tour de Lance - Bill Strickland

Tour de Lance The Extraordinary Story of Cycling's Most Controversial Champion Bill Strickland Genre: Sports & Outdoors Price: $5.99 Publish Date: June 15, 2010 Publisher: Crown/Archetype Seller: Penguin Random House LLC Lance Armstrong is a worldwide icon, indisputably one of the greatest cyclists who has ever lived. After battling cancer and becoming an inspiration to millions, Armstrong won the Tour de France a record-breaking seven consecutive years before retiring from competition in 2005. Four years later, at thirty-seven, Armstrong decided to come out of retirement and go for the win yet again. He was racing for no salary, in a season when his greatest rival--Tour de France, Tour of Italy, and Tour of Spain champion Alberto Contador--was on his own team. The twenty-five-year-old Spaniard had been handpicked by Armstrong's own mentor, Johan Bruyneel, to be his successor. Now he would be his fiercest competition. Armstrong was about to suffer like never before--and, for the first time in recent memory, appear to be human on a bicycle. After seven Tour victories--and beating cancer--did Lance Armstrong really need to prove anything? Beyond the thrill of another possible victory, what drove him to race again? What was he seeking--and would he find it? Cycling insider Bill Strickland had unprecedented access to Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel, and the team. He takes readers behind the scenes during the 2009 racing season and along for the ride on the Tour de France with a dramatic mile-by-mile account. Offering a penetrating and candid glimpse into the man behind the myth, Tour de Lance goes beyond a single season or a single race to reveal the heart of the sport and the soul of the cyclist. From the Hardcover edition. http://dlvr.it/R1hZG6

#Sports & Outdoors

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1337wtfomgbbq · 7 months

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'The Move' Mallorca podcast was just amazing😙👌

The 'chicken skin' pic is the last one of mine😊 Jan didn't know the English word for 'Gänsehaut' (aka goosebumps) hence this mistranslation and for them to rib into each other. Lance mentioning people asking why Jan's English isn't better, and Johan or George (it was hard for me to hear) laughing and asking Lance why he doesn't speak German. Causing Lance to say random German words like 'Scheiße' and 'Nein', stuff you would probably hear in a Hollywood movie, and for all of them to bust out laughing.

#it was really nice to listen to #giving some insight into stuff like 'the look'#or lance's crash in 2003 #the whole of 03 in general #of Jan showing up at Lance's victory party in 05 #the move mallorca 2023 #mallorca 2023 #jan ullrich #lance armstrong #george hincapie #johan bruyneel #cycling stuff #cycling

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pakcricwiz · 6 years

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Lance Armstrong’s former team manager given lifetime ban from cycling

• Johan Bruyneel has 10-year ban increased to life ban • ‘We were all children of our era,’ says Belgian

Lance Armstrong’s former team manager has been handed a lifetime ban from cycling for his role in a doping scandal that saw Armstrong stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

Johan Bruyneel was given a 10-year ban by the American Arbitration Association in 2014, but in a post on Twitter on Thursday, the 54-year-old said the sanction had now been increased to a lifetime ban following an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Continue reading... from Blogger https://ift.tt/2z32QMk

#http://worldsportspoint1.blogspot.com/2018/10/lance-armstrongs-former-team-manager.html Lance Armstr

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junker-town · 6 years

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Team mutiny is one of the Tour de France’s greatest traditions

Team divisions have a long and oh-so-colorful history at the Tour. Could Chris Froome vs. Geraint Thomas be next?

Geraint Thomas’ back-to-back Tour de France stage wins have put him and Team Sky in an unusual position: The person wearing the yellow jersey is not the rider they expected to win the whole thing.

Thomas was supposed to be a Plan B to Chris Froome, who is riding to become one of five riders to ever win the Tour de France five times. Instead, Thomas has flexed his climbing muscles all the way to the race lead, showing he can be much more than a nice hedge against Froome, who lost 50 seconds on the opening stage in a crash and sits 1’ 39” behind his teammate.

For cycling fans, this the ultimate Tour de France dream: The bubbles of in-fighting and mutiny.

Cycling fans love controversy, especially at the Tour. The race goes on for three weeks, and watching it is like watching a road trip buddy movie. Just as Midnight Run doesn’t work if Charles Grodin and Robert DeNiro are simply old friends on vacation together, so too does the Tour benefit from intra-personal conflict. All the better if that conflict centers on the Maillot Jaune.

At the Tour, teams are supposed to follow a set hierarchy, but things change over the course of the race. There’s a long history of lieutenants indulging their dreams of being the captain, and though Thomas has spent the past two days disavowing any ambition to win, cycling fans can’t help but let their minds wander.

Is this one of those years? Are Team Sky about to throw Froome overboard and sail on under Thomas’ leadership? Stranger things have happened before.

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Chris Froome stalks Bradley Wiggins in 2012

In 2013, the very same Team Sky nudged out defending winner Bradley Wiggins

The first Brit to win the Tour de France — and get knighted in the process — was pushed out of his leadership role thanks to shenanigans that unfolded during Wiggins’ historic ride the year before. At the watered-down 2012 Tour, Froome mounted the only close challenge to Wiggins, who had already time-trialed himself into yellow by the first rest day.

Froome, three minutes behind, briefly accelerated on a relatively mundane Stage 11 to La Toussuire, putting his teammate Wiggins in trouble, only to ease off so they could finish together. This was a rather British version of internal strife, one where a stiff upper lip glosses over any outward appearance of a problem … that is, until their partners took to Twitter.

After the stage, Froome’s girlfriend Michelle, who he later married, complained that Froome was being held back from attacking by Sky. Wiggins’ wife Catherine tweeted back something about loyalty. Michelle clapped back, and pretty much everyone assumed that they were speaking for their husbands about what really happened that day.

As it turns out, they were: Froome wanted to be let all the way off the leash to attack without limitations, and Wiggins felt back-stabbed, threatening to quit the race before the team smoothed things out that night.

Everyone seemed to get along from then on … until Mrs. Wiggins called Froome a “slithering reptile” just last year.

Getty Images

Lance wishing Contador would just go away

Words can hurt, but on the road is where mutiny is at its best.

In 2009, Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong joined forces at Astana with the idea of creating a superteam, only to smash it to pieces over the course of the Tour. Both had won their most recent Tours, Armstrong in 2005 before retiring, and Contador in 2007 before jumping to Astana.

On Stage 7 in ‘09, Contador ditched the “co-leader” pretense and seized initiative in the Pyrenees, taking the stage and 21 seconds over Armstrong. Then the war of words began.

The Spaniard had supposedly “defied team orders” by attacking, however successfully, because team loyalty is blah blah blah. Armstrong sounded a lot like a fading champion trying to downplay his own relative weakness, and his long-time enabler, team manager Johan Bruyneel, wasn’t about to stop him.

Being kind of an asshole, Lance took to calling Contador “Pistolero” and bad-mouthing him to teammates even while Contador was in earshot. (Note: Contador can understand English). The team — stocked with Lance cronies — largely turned against their own Maillot Jaune, and even left him behind at the hotel on the morning of the final time trial, underscoring the pettiness of the situation. Contador won the time trial and the Tour, essentially on his own, and probably still doesn’t get enough credit for the character he showed to this day.

Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond starred in perhaps cycling’s most famous beef

Over the 13 months spanning the 1985 and 1986 Tours, few riders could stop the pair from dividing cycling’s spoils while they rode for the powerful La Vie Claire team.

In ‘85, with Hinault on track to win the Tour a record fifth time and LeMond acting as his eager understudy, Hinault crashed and finished Stage 14 with a broken nose and assorted bruises. Physically compromised, Hinault rode conservatively and did his best to hang on through the Pyrenean stages, while LeMond kept a close eye on Stephen Roche, a future Tour winner who was sitting third overall, six minutes down.

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LeMond with Hinault, 1985

Roche attacked early on Stage 17 to Luz Ardiden, and LeMond followed but didn’t help, allowing Hinault to stay in control. But LeMond was furious after the stage, saying words that Froome would echo years later about wanting a chance to win. Team orders prevailed once again, and Hinault finished first in Paris, with LeMond runner-up.

Things got 2009 Astana-ugly the next year, when LeMond was supposed to be the team leader and Hinault his right-hand man. Hinault famously attacked LeMond repeatedly, forcing the American to earn his victory every day. LeMond felt betrayed and, as an American on a French team, he began to see danger all around him, becoming paranoid that his food was being tainted, or that team mechanics were sabotaging his bike.

Hinault tried to gaslight LeMond, continually pledging his support of hist teammate despite attacking him constantly. LeMond leaned heavily on La Vie Claire’s only other American, Andy Hampsten, to not only survive the race, but win it.

Team division doesn’t always have to be so dramatic, though.

In 1997, defending winner Bjarne Riis more or less conceded control of the team to Jan Ullrich with only the briefest moment of tension. Thankfully that tension was caught on TV, and remains one of the most beloved moments in cycling history:

youtube

In truth, Riis by then was sinking to seventh overall and had already told the ascendant Ullrich to ride for himself. All of this was connected to the 1996 Tour, where a super-strong (cough) Ullrich rode faithfully by Riis’ side as the Dane scored his only Tour win, pointedly not pulling a LeMond and asking to attack when his team captain was in a compromised position.

Another version of the Mutiny That Isn’t happened in 2008, when Team Saxo Bank went after Tour favorite Cadel Evans with brothers Andy and Fränk Schleck and a Spaniard, Carlos Sastre, who was the team’s presumptive favorite. Fränk Schleck obtained the yellow jersey midway through the Tour, and Andy seemed to have ambitions of taking yellow himself in the mountains. Turns out, the pair was just softening up Evans for Sastre’s winning attack on Alpe d’Huez.

Sometimes promises are being kept, even when it looks like they aren’t.

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Promises kept: Sastre on the loose

The prospects of a Thomas vs. Froome showdown aren’t great.

The overall talent is weighted heavily in favor of the status quo — Froome has won this race four times, after all, and Thomas has never been in serious contention for a Grand Tour victory. The two are also longtime teammates and friends.

But the possibility of mutiny does exist, because the long history of the Tour has taught us that the bridesmaid can become the bride if he takes the lead.

Young Froome and ‘85 LeMond were told to stand down for the simple reason that, despite how good they were, they weren’t in the lead; their teammate was. Not so this time. If Thomas wants the yellow jersey, he won’t have to ask.

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Awwww...

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diariomatutino · 6 years

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El TAS sanciona de por vida a Johan Bruyneel por su “plan de dopaje”

El exdirector ciclista de Lance Armstrong admite haber sucumbido a las "tentaciones" de su tiempo. Los españoles Pedro Celaya y José Martí, también sancionados from Ciclismo https://ift.tt/2OOFo02

#news #noticias #prensa #ciclismo #bikes #El TAS sanciona de por vida a Johan Bruyneel por su “plan de dop

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isabella880 · 4 years

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“No hubo conspiración contra Contador en el Tour 2009”

Bruyneel, en tono comedido quiso repasar los comentarios vertidos por Contador.

El entonces responsable del Astana admitió que supo de antemano que seria un Tour difícil adentro del equipo, ya que era el objetivo era superar y a la vez diligenciar 2 egos de campeones.

Tras explicar que no llevó a Benjamín Noval, hombre de confianza de Contador, por cuestiones técnicas, Bruyneel explicó la dificultad a la hora de manejar los egos de “dos machos alfa”.

“Si Alberto pensó que las ruedas no eran buenas y quería otras, eso no lo sé, no conozco más detalles”.

También aseguró Contador que su biciclo dormía en la habitación de su mecánico, aspecto que molestó más a Bruyneel.

from La Crónica Coruña https://lacronicacoruna.com/no-hubo-conspiracion-contra-contador-en-el-tour-2009/ from La Crónica Coruña https://lacronicacoruna.tumblr.com/post/615407550888837120

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