Jan Ullrich - the greatest cyclist ever?

Jan Ullrich after winning the Tour de France

Talk about cycling in India and most people would only know the name of one Lance Armstrong. Yes he has been a multiple times winner of the Tour de France but was he really the best? Pundits in the world of cycling have often labelled him as a one race rider. They indicated that Armstrong rode only to win the Tour de France and had no impact whatsoever on the rest of the cycling calendar.

For every Tendulkar there is a Dravid. Many a times I think if Tendulkar would have never played cricket Dravid would be the name of Indian Cricket. Similarly had Armstrong not come back to cycling from his cancer recovery, who would be the one to replace him in the cycling worlds history. My bet is Jan Ullrich.

A German former professional road bicycle racer. In 1997, he was the first German to win the Tour de France. He went on to take five second places and a fourth in 2004 and third in 2005. He is considered one of the best time-trialists in the history of the sport. Ullrich won a gold and a silver in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He also won the 1999 Vuelta a España. Although not a one-day specialist, he won the HEW Cyclassics in front of a home crowd in Hamburg in 1997, and had podium finishes in the hilly classic Clásica de San Sebastián. His victorious ride in the 1997 Tour de France led to a bicycle boom in Germany. And also Ullrich was Number 1 in the top 100 sportspeople in Germany of the 20th century in 2011.