Friday, March 29, 2024

Tag: German Professionals

“Jan Ullrich” by Daniel Friebe

Daniel Friebe's book, "Jan Ullrich, the best there never was" covers his career and life in great detail with many interviews with his coach, Peter Becker and two of the men who attempted to manage their brilliant but erratic charge, Rudy Pevenage and Walter Godefroot - who no longer exchange Christmas cards - not to mention many of his Telekom team mates, and of course there’s the other ‘stuff’; Ullrich’s addictions to alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, sex; and most damaging of all, for a man whose job involves riding a bicycle up mountains - food.

Jens Lehmann – One of the World’s Best Ever Pursuit Riders

Germany’s Jens Lehmann’s first international success came with the silver medal in the Worlds Individual Pursuit in 1989 behind the legendary Viatcheslav Ekimov; but he was still winning Worlds medals in 2002 - Individual Pursuit bronze and Team Pursuit silver.

Rolf Gölz – A Chat with ‘Turbo’ about his Career

Rolf Gölz might not be a name that readily comes to mind, but from 1983 to 1993 the man from West Germany filled his palmarès with Olympic and World medals, National championships, Tour stage wins, Classics and a list of other race wins. Ed Hood caught up with Rolf for a chat over old times.

Rudi Altig

In the passing of Rudi Altig from cancer on June 11th 2016 from cancer at 79 years-of-age, Germany and the sport of cycling have lost one of it’s giants. He was a man who could win everything from his nation’s amateur national sprint championship to the Vuelta by way of the world professional pursuit and road race titles, Monuments and Six Day races.

Mike Kluge – Three Times World Cyclocross Champion and the Man Behind Focus Bikes

All you’ll read about for the foreseeable future are Porte, Aru, Uran and Contador – plus others who the press will ‘big up’ to make it seem like someone other than those four can win. But of course, there isn’t. So if you’ll forgive us if we’re going back to a time when our champions didn’t Tweet but had much more worth talking about - Germany's Mike Kluge is our man; quality road rider, triple World Cyclo-Cross Champion, top mountain bike rider and equipment innovator – he’s the man who started Focus bikes in 1992.

Rick Zabel – All Set For the Classics With BMC

The German Junior Madison Championships came Rick Zabel’s way in 2009 with more track podiums at national junior level in 2010 in the points, team pursuit and Madison. There were a raft of strong junior road results in 2011 with a fifth place in the Junior Worlds as a high point. His first year as a U23 in 2012 saw him lift the national U23 road race title for Rabobank Continental for whom he also won the U23 Ronde van Vlaanderen in 2013. Last year saw him step up to the World Tour with BMC Racing Team and land a share of a win in the Tour of Trentino TTT.

Il Giro d’Italia 2014 – Stage 3; Armagh – Dublin, 187 km. Marcel Kittel’s Second.

Today’s stage Stage Three was a re-run of Saturday’s with Marcel Kittel proving again that he’s not just quick but very, very strong. Again he was out of position but with the strength of a bull he came over everyone from well back to win. The press always want to attach labels; ‘fastest man in the world’ to sprinters – and whilst it’s never as simple as that, the big German is certainly impressive. His manner is good too with a smile never far away.

Il Giro d’Italia 2014 – Stage 2; Belfast, 218 km. Marcel Kittel a Class Apart

Cannondale, F des J, Giant, Greenedge, Sky, Trek - they all tried to take control in the finale in Belfast in Stage Two on Saturday. But none could. It's not until you see a situation like we did in Belfast that you realise just how good Mario Cipollini's Acqua Sapone and Cav's HTC trains really were. In the event, it was irrelevant; Kittel was in a different league. He was way back and would usually have been out of it but turned left, found clear road, turned on the boosters and left the others scrabbling for the placings.

Robert Bartko – World & Olympic Champion and Six Day Star Retires

It's a term bandied around a lot; 'legend', too often in fact, in a world where superlatives fly around - but this gentleman really does deserve the title. Robert Bartko has been at the top of his trade for two decades and on Tuesday night in Copenhagen's Ballerup Super Arena he went out in style with his 21st Six Day win off 79 starts. It was just a matter of hours before the Copenhagen finale when his big frame filled the doorway of the VeloVeritas cabin before he sat down to chat to us about his career.

Paul Martens – Tour of Luxemburg 2013 Winner

Who’s Paul Martens? He’s a solid professional, comes from Rostock in Germany and rides for Belkin. And back in June he joined that exclusive club of national tour winners, taking the Tour of Luxembourg – a result rather lost in the pre-Tour hysteria.

At Random

Craig Wallace – a Move to the Basque Country

It was last September when we last spoke to Aberdonian rider, Craig Wallace about his adventures in Flanders. But the man has itchy feet and he’s off to another of VeloVeritas's favourite spots for 2014; The Basque Country – Euskal Herria.

Dougie Young – Off to Belgium with Realistic Targets

Here at VeloVeritas we're always banging on about riders getting themselves across the North sea to Flanders, so when one actually does, such as Dougie Young, it's only right that we should pay a bit of attention.

British u23 Time Trial Championship 2022; Leo Hayter continues his golden run

Last Thursday, on the roads around Dumfries and along the beautiful Solway Firth Callum Thornley endorsed his potential, taking silver in the British u23 Time Trial Championship, beaten only by 2022 Baby Giro winner, Leo Hayter but leaving riders like Groupama FDJ big hitters Sam Watson and Lewis Askey in his wake.  

Mark Stewart – Looking Back at the Tour de Yorkshire

Scotland’s British Points Champion and World Cup Team Pursuit medallist, Mark Stewart was in action in the recent Tour de Yorkshire, building endurance for his next track campaign which centres round the European U23 Track Championships in July. We thought we’d best have a word with the man ...

Danilo Di Luca Scores Again at Montevergine and Reclaims Pink

The Giro's pink and Liquigas' green - that's the gaudy colour combination that characterises this first week of the Giro d'Italia. "The Killer", Danilo Di Luca's strong sprint took him to Giro success again in yesterday's Stage 4, finishing at Montevergine di Mercogliano.

Giacomo Nizzolo – Strong Start to 2020 Before Lockdown

The Giro, the final Stage 21 into Torino, Trek’s Giacomo Nizzolo avoids the late crash and takes the stage – the judges think differently though and declasse him to 12th with German, Niklas Arndt given the victory. Dave and I were ‘barrier hanging’ in the finish straight and it looked like a sound win to us – but those UCI guys...