Ullrich’s gesture earns high praise
Cyclist joins list of honorable acts.
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Published Monday, July 28, 2003
It didn’t take long for the debate to begin.
Was Jan Ullrich a fool, hero or both when he put chances of winning the Tour de France in serious jeopardy by waiting for Lance Armstrong to recover from his crash during a critical stage?
Given the results of Saturday’s time trial, which saw Armstrong add enough seconds to his lead and assure his fifth consecutive title yesterday, Ullrich won’t have to second-guess his split-second decision during the 15th stage last week. But at the time there was the real possibility Ullrich had squandered a perfect opportunity to snare the race he has won once and finished second in four times.
Ullrich’s gesture already has become entrenched in the lore of the Tour and earned a spot on the small list of special moments that occur at critical times when an athlete decides winning is not as important as how honorably one behaves while competing.
“It was an act that will live with him forever,” said Dan Boyle, founder and executive director of the Institute for International Sport. “Cynics will say he lost money, but it was a highly commendable thing that he did.”
Boyle, whose organization promotes sportsmanship and organizes the annual National Sportsmanship Day, said Ullrich’s actions reminded him of a Knute Rockne quote: “One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it.”
Ullrich was trailing Armstrong by 15 seconds going into Monday’s stage. Armstrong was looking vulnerable up to that point. Ullrich, who won the Tour in 1997 and has finished second in his other four races, including twice to Armstrong, had stuck with the leader through most of Monday’s stage as they moved into the final climb.
That is when Armstrong strayed too close to the fans lining the road and got his handlebars caught in a bystander’s bag. Armstrong went down in a heap. Ullrich, who was right behind him, avoided the crash.
This was the moment when Ullrich had to make a decision: seize the opportunity and pedal away from Armstrong or slow down and wait for his nemesis.
Ullrich waited until Armstrong had gotten on his bike and caught up with him before they resumed competing. The fall energized Armstrong, who then flew past Ullrich and the rest of the racers, winning the stage and increasing his lead to 67 seconds over the German.
“If I would have won this race by taking advantage of someone’s bad luck, then the race was not worth winning,” Ullrich said.
A similar incident involving the same two riders occurred in the 13th stage of the 2001 race. Ullrich crashed into a ditch during a downhill ride, and Armstrong slowed until Ullrich was back on his bike.
Yesterday, Ullrich finished second for the fifth time. However, his gesture of sportsmanship has already taken his place alongside historic incidents such as these:
● THE CONCESSION: The Ryder Cup always has been hotly contested, even back in 1969 at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England, when it was still the British vs. the United States.
The tone was set early when British captain Eric Brown told his players not to help look for Americans’ balls that were hit into the rough. On the second day, Brown and U.S. captain Sam Snead had to come on the course to calm tempers during several contentious matches.
On the final day, the Cup came down to the final hole in the final pairing of Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin. Down by a stroke, Jacklin had eagled the 17th to even the match going into the final hole. The overall score was also even at 15½ each.
Both reached the 18th green in two and missed their birdie putts. Nicklaus made his par.
The pressure then shifted to Jacklin, whose ball has been reported as being about three feet from the cup.
If he missed, the British would lose. If he made it, they would tie, and while the U.S. would retain the Cup, it would be the first tie in Ryder Cup history and a moral victory for the Brits.
But Jacklin never got his chance to putt. Nicklaus picked up Jacklin’s marker, conceding the putt. The two walked off the green with their arms around each other.
● GOLDEN BOLT: After his second and final run in the two-man bobsled race in the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, Italian driver Eugenio Monti was in first place. Monti was waiting at the bottom of the hill to see if anyone could beat his time when word came that the first-run leader, Britain’s Tony Nash, had broken a bolt on the rear axle of his sled.
Without a replacement bolt, Nash would have to drop out of competition. But when Monti heard what had happened, he took a bolt out of his sled and sent it to the top of the hill.
Nash was able to fix his sled with the loaned bolt, and when he completed his run, he had the gold medal. Monti ended up with the bronze.
“Tony Nash did not win because I gave him a bolt,” Monti said after the race. “Tony Nash won because he was the best driver.”
Monti’s gesture earned him the first De Coubertin Medal for sportsmanship. The award is named after the founder of the modern Olympics.