Jan Ullrich

Jan Ullrich (born December 2, 1973 in Rostock, Germany) is a German professional road bicycle racer. He won the Tour de France in 1997, finished 2nd five times and one time fourth (2004) and third (2005). He was the first German to win the Tour de France, which led to a bicycle sports boom in Germany. He also won a gold medal in the Olympics 2000 in Sydney and the Vuelta a España as well.

Early professional years

In his first one and a half years as a professional, he was inconspicuous. At his first start at the 1996 Tour de France, he reached a sensational second place behind his Danish team mate Bjarne Riis. He won the final individual time trial and secured himself his first Tour stage win.

Related Topics:
1996 Tour de France - Bjarne Riis - Individual time trial

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Despite being a teammate to previous year's winner Bjarne Riis, he quickly became the favorite in the 1997 Tour de France. Riis was not strong enough to keep Ullrich down in the mountains or in the time-trials. After a dominant win in a stage in the mountains and his first yellow jersey, the German press started to follow the tour more closely. Despite Marco Pantani's devastating attacks in the Alpe d'Huez and Morzine stages, Ullrich kept his cool and was able to limit his time losses. For performance and ability to keep his nerves the French sports newspaper L'Équipe considered him as one of the top bikers with the words Voilà le Patron ("Here is the boss"). Ullrich won another stage in the tour and became the first German to win the tour. He was 23 at the time, one of the youngest winners ever. He was chosen "sports person of the year" in Germany in 1997.

Related Topics:
1997 Tour de France - Yellow jersey - Marco Pantani - Alpe d'Huez - L'Équipe

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