Jan Ullrich (Warning: bike racing content)

I really like Jan Ullrich; and you have to feel for the guy. If it weren’t for Lance Armstrong he likely would have joined the pantheon of immortals himself, with at least 5 Tour de France wins. As it is he has one win, a string of second place finishes, and a fourth.

Saturday’s opening time trial was like years of Ullrich’s TdF frustration magically distilled into just over 20 minutes.

Here’s the scoop on stage 1, courtesy of Cycling News.

Here’s a photo and here’s another that speak volumes. The poor guy… not even 12 miles into a 2000+ mile race and he has to know that barring disaster (or a miracle, depending on your perspective) he’s racing for second (again).

I hope he races in next year’s Tour… I’ll be pulling for him if he does.