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Published: August 17, 2006
Some rivalries have illuminated the sports world, igniting heated arguments between fans and spotlighting athletic warriors who eventually transform into legendary heroes. Each half of these rivalries pushes the other, demanding the most spectacular performances and challenging the other half for the momentary upper-hand.
Within the last decade, cycling produced a new and highly-underrated rivalry. It was undoubtedly a competitive brotherhood between two of its most talented, victorious riders in its history—Germany’s Jan Ullrich and America’s Lance Armstrong.
Both these astutely aerobic athletes used each other for their own personal definition in the sport, a binary opposition on two wheels with incredible resting heart rates, begging the question: Could these cyclists achieve legendary status without the help of their counterpart?
Before these two cycling paths crossed and eventually merged into one of the more memorable competitive rivalries, Armstrong and Ullrich already shared common threads within their culturally different lives. Cyclists’ childhoods often mirror those of American boxers or basketball players—many grow up in poor, broken homes filled with strife and psychological instability. Both cyclists’ families battled poverty.
Though the 24 year-old Ullrich won the 1998 Tour de France, a knee injury sidelined the German’s cycling future and subsequently opened the door for the future king of international road racing: Lance Armstrong.
Armstrong returned to cycling in 1999 after his courageous and inspirational bout with cancer, winning four stages and the overall classification title. In 2000, the two Tour de France champions competed in the streets and intimate towns of France for the first time, paving the way for one of the best rivalries in cycling history. Like most famous rivals, Armstrong and Ullrich became known for a string of singular moments of intense drama and memorable exchanges.
In the heat of the 2001 competition, Ullrich crashed. Armstrong, respecting cycling tradition, waited for the German champion. Later in the race, Ullrich attacked vigorously on the famous L’Alpe d’Huez, a monumentally renowned climb. Armstrong experienced terrible suffering and started to lose major minutes on the stage’s lead pack. In a sudden burst of energy, Armstrong bolted up the last climb of the mountain and passed a cracking Ullrich with an intense stare. Journalists and cycling enthusiasts later labeled it “The Look,” although Armstrong claims he was merely checking Ullrich’s facial expressions to see if he was struggling.
During the 2004 Tour, Armstrong’s handlebars caught a fan’s bag, causing the attacking U.S. Postal rider to spill to the ground. Filled with adrenaline and frustration, Armstrong jumped back in the saddle and began attacking ferociously, fearing a Tour defeat. Ullrich waited appropriately for Armstrong, but Armstrong’s domestique at that time, Tyler Hamilton, believed Ullrich continued attacking, which is a cycling taboo. Thus, Armstrong relentlessly climbed, and Ullrich ended up losing close to forty seconds that day (After clarification, Armstrong later acknowledged Ullrich did, in fact, wait for him.)
In his final Tour in 2005, Armstrong, the defending champion, followed Ullrich in the first time trial. The German, a strong time-trialist, took off 60 seconds before the American. Armstrong eclipsed the time and swallowed Ullrich’s buffer. Cycling analysts and commentators frequently mention it was a combination of Armstrong’s psychological tactics and his precise devotion to training keeping Ullrich at a distant second place for five of the seven years the Texan won the Tour. In the weeks before those prolific seven Tours, Armstrong barraged his competitive counterpart with compliments, demonstrating his admiration for the German competitor.
Perhaps the difference between Armstrong and Ullrich is Armstrong always played the game, physically and psychologically training and challenging himself. Ullrich waited until each July to try to step up to the plate, but for seven straight years, he was always 11 months too late.
Within the last decade, cycling produced a new and highly-underrated rivalry. It was undoubtedly a competitive brotherhood between two of its most talented, victorious riders in its history—Germany’s Jan Ullrich and America’s Lance Armstrong.
Both these astutely aerobic athletes used each other for their own personal definition in the sport, a binary opposition on two wheels with incredible resting heart rates, begging the question: Could these cyclists achieve legendary status without the help of their counterpart?
Before these two cycling paths crossed and eventually merged into one of the more memorable competitive rivalries, Armstrong and Ullrich already shared common threads within their culturally different lives. Cyclists’ childhoods often mirror those of American boxers or basketball players—many grow up in poor, broken homes filled with strife and psychological instability. Both cyclists’ families battled poverty.
Though the 24 year-old Ullrich won the 1998 Tour de France, a knee injury sidelined the German’s cycling future and subsequently opened the door for the future king of international road racing: Lance Armstrong.
Armstrong returned to cycling in 1999 after his courageous and inspirational bout with cancer, winning four stages and the overall classification title. In 2000, the two Tour de France champions competed in the streets and intimate towns of France for the first time, paving the way for one of the best rivalries in cycling history. Like most famous rivals, Armstrong and Ullrich became known for a string of singular moments of intense drama and memorable exchanges.
In the heat of the 2001 competition, Ullrich crashed. Armstrong, respecting cycling tradition, waited for the German champion. Later in the race, Ullrich attacked vigorously on the famous L’Alpe d’Huez, a monumentally renowned climb. Armstrong experienced terrible suffering and started to lose major minutes on the stage’s lead pack. In a sudden burst of energy, Armstrong bolted up the last climb of the mountain and passed a cracking Ullrich with an intense stare. Journalists and cycling enthusiasts later labeled it “The Look,” although Armstrong claims he was merely checking Ullrich’s facial expressions to see if he was struggling.
During the 2004 Tour, Armstrong’s handlebars caught a fan’s bag, causing the attacking U.S. Postal rider to spill to the ground. Filled with adrenaline and frustration, Armstrong jumped back in the saddle and began attacking ferociously, fearing a Tour defeat. Ullrich waited appropriately for Armstrong, but Armstrong’s domestique at that time, Tyler Hamilton, believed Ullrich continued attacking, which is a cycling taboo. Thus, Armstrong relentlessly climbed, and Ullrich ended up losing close to forty seconds that day (After clarification, Armstrong later acknowledged Ullrich did, in fact, wait for him.)
In his final Tour in 2005, Armstrong, the defending champion, followed Ullrich in the first time trial. The German, a strong time-trialist, took off 60 seconds before the American. Armstrong eclipsed the time and swallowed Ullrich’s buffer. Cycling analysts and commentators frequently mention it was a combination of Armstrong’s psychological tactics and his precise devotion to training keeping Ullrich at a distant second place for five of the seven years the Texan won the Tour. In the weeks before those prolific seven Tours, Armstrong barraged his competitive counterpart with compliments, demonstrating his admiration for the German competitor.
Perhaps the difference between Armstrong and Ullrich is Armstrong always played the game, physically and psychologically training and challenging himself. Ullrich waited until each July to try to step up to the plate, but for seven straight years, he was always 11 months too late.
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