Jan Ullrich’s disgraceful exit impacts Armstrong’s legacy

DAILY SERVE: Tue 27/2

Jan Ullrich was a winner of the world toughest test, the Tour De France, but was best known for being Lance Armstrong’s fiercest rival during the American’s seven year reign. Clearly a supreme athlete (a product of the East German system), he monstered over the bike, a vastly different image than that of the slightly built Armstrong. Legends are not only made from their achievements or the adversity they may face, but also the opponents they have to get past. The constant presence of Ullrich gave Armstrong a tangible target. Borg had McEnroe, Nicklaus had Tom Watson, Ali had Frazier, Sampras had Agassi.

Ullrich enhanced the Armstrong legend.

Today Ullrich exits cycling as the latest to have taken on the system and lost. Previously guilty of an amphetamine charge, Ullrich was withdrawn from the 2006 Tour, thanks to being named and shamed in a doping enquiry. His career over. Another cautionary tale.

Armstrong’s contemporaries continue to drop like nine pins. The American maintains he never took a prohibited substance. Perhaps he didn’t. Perhaps the claims of a positive EPO test from 1999 are indeed bogus. Perhaps the occasionally questionable behaviour involving his teams is coincidental as well. Floyd Landis set the sport back decades with his humiliation. Now this. Cycling has unquestionably lost all of its integrity.

If the credibility of the sport has eroded, it’s hard to imagine the legacy of its greatest champion remaining unaffected.

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