Jaja was a better cyclist than Ullrich?
Now that's a keen statement.
I didn't know that Jaja won the TDF, was TT world champion, Olympic gold medalist, ...

And didn't Jaja ride LOOK frames?
From what I've heard he worked for LOOK during the last year(s) of his career (and AFAIK he still works for LOOK).

Good one Ed you always make me laugh, good people skills. I did say arguably, Jalabert has a far bigger palmares than Ullrich. And yes he did not win those races Tour and Olympics. But he did win the world Time Trial championships in 1997 he has won the green jersey in the tour and the Polka. He is by far a better alrounder than Ullrich.

Has Ullrich ever been rated no 1 UCI cyclist in the world. What is the most numeber of wins he has had in one season. What is his classics palmares like. He won the Tour ages ago and yet people still cannot get over this fact. I now which cyclist I will pick out of the two.

He won a lot of races on Giant and never had anything but good comments on the bike. Working for LOOK now, yes I do not deny that, but we have to look at his loyalties. French bloke French bike manufaturer. Never saw him change a ride another bike that was a Giant rebranded.

But the main argument was that Ullrich will break a Giant. How I do not know seeing that Laurent's peak power output must have bee higher than Ullrich's

I don't think that the Giant's are weak frames. There much lighter than the Pinarello's and the're stiff enough. But the problem is that they don't come in custom geometry (only S-M-L) and Ullrich has to use those new DA. The Record is that much better

I didn't doubt this.
But IMHO you can't compare victories in world cup races vs. victories in the TDF/Vuelta/Giro.

Sure, there are always many allrounders around like Bartoli, Bettini, ...
But are/were they capable to compete constantly at the big events over the whole years?

Yes, Ullrich was ranked #1 in 2000.

Well, the more races you race, the more points you get.
But you can't start at every race when you want to concentrate yourself on big events these days. (except some extra-terrestrial riders like Merckx in the past)

Are 6 years still ages ago?
Are 2nd places at each of his five TDF starts nothing?

I just want to point out that you can't compare apples and oranges.

JaJa won tour of Spain and Paris Nice, they are both really good cyclists and a pleasure to watch when on form. I see you are from Germany so you must have a soft spot for Ullrich. Which I do not.

I find it inexcusable that he can do the things he does, he has enormous athletic capacity yet he does not have the self control to fully master it, it is quite sad and I hope he does find the control just to prove what he is capable of at the Tour, because I do not think we have seen his best

Good to know that you as French (or Franco Canadian?) don't have a soft spot for Jaja.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to defend Jan Ullrich.
I have very much respect for Jaja and his career, I just think that it's not right to compare completely different rider types by saying this rider is better than another one.


Sure, but this made him also very human.
You can't control everything in your life and you must have luck, too.

Here's a pic of the new team bike:

Someone at a Shop told me that the ONCE Team rode Pegoretti's in the Tour, and Vuelta.

The thing that obviously many are concerned about is the fact that Ullrich is running the new Dura-Ace! He has been using Campy since the day he was born.

Jan Ullrich gets what he wants (and deserves); I hear he has 4 sets of Dierl & Obermayer's Lightweight Wheels, and he has almost all his products customized for him. (He still uses the old style Ergopower's brake hood)



Look at Giant - If you hold a straight rule along the tubing, you can see where the tube comes out of contact of the ruler. Often the dropouts of Giant's are not parallel. Giant's have also been known to crack at the bottle cage mounts. This kind of poor manufacturing - Jan shouldn't have to put up with.

Pegoretti at the tour, no offence bu that is the biggest load of crap I have heard in a long time. Your source needs to wake up and Actually watch the tour, since when do Pegoretti make a custom carbon frame

@superlite:
I ve seen already broken Canondale frames
and the Giant frames are suitable for drivers up to 120 kg/ 265pounds

265 wow, i have seen big dudes on Giant Tcr composite frames. some as big as 6'8'' i dont know his weight, he got some some flex from the frame at the bb area but it was an xl frame and he was cranking alot of power.

did you guys see that Giant carbon TT monster that De Galdeano rode at the vuelta
just as cool as the walser that Urich used to ride
it´s a shame that it wont be those pimpin gold stickers on it

Hi friends, take a look to Jan using shimano and the new bikes in details . . . . ( go to aktuelle fotoshow )

http://www.t-mobile-team.com/1000/startseite.htm

Giant look a like with T-Mobile painting coming soon.









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Velonews reported on Ullrich's bike last year that, with the late team switch, etc., he just gave the frame spec's to Bianchi and they built his accordingly at the last minute. I'd bet he's done the same with Giant even though it's not a last minute deal. He had standard Record otherwise, not much custom, except maybe the wheels (If I'm remembering right).