Jan Ullrich's birthday: TOUR editor-in-chief remembers the early days

At a time when young journalists could still indulge in the illusion that cycling was a largely clean business with an irrelevant few black sheep, Team Telekom started the tradition of pre-Christmas media meetings. For the media professionals in the German cycling diaspora at the time - since Didi Thurau's time, only a few scattered soloists here and there had made it onto the results lists and into the public eye - it was like an early Christmas present. The prospect of spending a few hours with the team, of direct contact with the racers, of a joint bike ride, handlebar to handlebar with the stars, was incredibly tempting.

Team meeting 1994

In the winter of 1994, Jan Ullrich, just 21 years old, joined the team and the team meeting held near Siegburg for the first time. In 1993, he had ridden into the limelight as amateur world champion, had signed a preliminary contract with Team Telekom, but still rode as an amateur in 1994 - also to experience what it was like to be the noticed and hunted one in the races, the one in the world champion jersey that everyone was watching and waiting for.

In the changing room for the joint bike ride at the team meeting, I had the opportunity to exchange a few words with Ullrich, he won't remember it. A nice guy answered, young, a bit shy, but still open.

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No leader attitude with Ullrich

On the bike ride with the pros, it was easy to see what characterised Ullrich throughout his career: he always felt most comfortable when he could be one of many in a group with mates or team colleagues. Then he was in a good mood, funny and not at all foul-mouthed. He never pushed himself to the fore, he never displayed a leader attitude. Or to put it another way: Jan Ullrich was by far the best racer in the team, but not anything like a captain.

His relaxed demeanour in the group soon gave way to maximum tension - when dealing with the media. Even when talking to two or three journalists, his forehead would break out in a sweat and he would begin to formulate things in a wooden and often awkward manner, when he could speak freely and accurately in the safety of the group. The insecure, often awkward, occasionally cheeky Ullrich became the public avatar of the nice young bloke from the changing room.