Boulder Report: "Damn You, Jan Ullrich"

Bicycling writer Joe Lindsey is doing his part to keep Boulder weird in his rambling Boulder Report. Lindsey notes that Jan Ullrich won a time trial stage at the Giro d'Italia and wonders if overall winner Ivan Basso pushed too hard in Italy to win Le Tour in July. He also points out that with Alexander Vinokourov and sprinter Erik Zabel gone, T-Mobile is a far different team, united to work for Ullrich.

"Will he do it? Of course not. Ullrich is a 21st century Poulidor, Mr. Second Place. He can, and most likely will, find a way to lose the race. But he's so damn talented that you can't look him off as a serious contender. Jan Ullrich could show up to the prologue drunk, 20 pounds overweight, pedaling a unicycle, and still be able to ride himself into enough shape in the first 10 days that, were he to attack off the front, every team in the race with even an outside hope for the podium would chase him down. So damn you, Jan Ullrich, for making me (cautiously) believe that you can (maybe) win the Tour (against all hope)."