Where's Jan Ullrich?

Every cycling fan is fascinated by Jan Ullrich. After winning and dominating the 1997 Tour de France in just his third (1997) season as a young 24 yo pro, he was tagged as the new "Eddy Merckx", the one who was going to break the record of TdF's wins. (The record number of TdF wins until 2003 was five each for Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong. Lance made it 7 consecutive TdF's last year.) With his age and physical stature similar to the great ones, he was unanimously voted as the new "Cannibal". Unfortunately for Jan, bad decisions, bad relationships and a tornado from Texas spat on his soup for the next 8 years. So when Lance Armstrong retired last year to become a full time dad, the race of the 2006 TdF was blown wide open. Could this Tour be Ullrich's to own?

Ullrich, is probably the most enigmatic rider in the peloton today. One of the last products of the East German sports program, the 6'2", 160lbs Ullrich isn't an eloquent speaker and his press releases seemed scripted. That's probably why cycling fans can't get enough of him. His desire to win the TdF in the roads of France during July is in contrast to his desire to be fit the peloton wars. Weight, personal problems or questionable injuries that seem to nag him in the early season always leads to media trouble. But in spite of that, he'd be ready for battle by July. And this is what makes "the Kaiser" an intriguing personality.

These past few weeks, a nagging knee problem, which has been bothering him for years now, is back. In fact, he has yet to race his first race for 2006, while most of his rivals are already up there in terms of preparation.

1996 TdF winner Bjarne Riis, an ex-teammate and the director of rival team CSC, and who have seen Ullrich train in Tuscany just recently, blasted Ullrich's prep as "absolutely catastrophic". Riis added that Ullrich "doesn't like to ride a bike, which is why I can't understand why he wants to be a cyclist".

At 33, Ullrich is not getting any younger while his younger competitors, like Ivan Basso, Alexander Vinokourov, Alejandro Valverde (my TdF favorite this year) and the rest are just lurking around the corner ready to pounce.

While he is still the time trial meister, his climbing is suspect. His ability to attack and to respond to attacks in the mountains has diminished so much in the past years making this a big dent is his armor. T-Mobile has built a team to work around Ullrich and if they do as they're paid to do, Ullrich will have a good chance of winning, just like Vinokourov, Basso, Valverde and others.

In a recent interview, Ullrich say's that he is "actually optimistic" of being in good form in spite of his problems. His planned ride in the 3-week Giro d'Italia starting on May 6 will depend on the reaction of his knee in his first race this Thursday. He is riding about four hours a day, "just rolling, with a low wattage," followed by several hours of physical therapy." The final reckoning will be in Paris," Ullrich said. "You shouldn't write Ullrich off quite yet."