Former T-Mobile rider Rolf Aldag finished 31st in his marathon debut this weekend. The tall German had announced that he was aiming for a finish time of 2 hours and 45 minutes, and came in almost exactly on time, at 2:42:57. "That was brutal," Aldag said. "I started out much too fast."
But the former teammate of Jan Ullrich and Erik Zabel was running together with an experienced companion who helped him pace himself, "and then it went perfectly." Aldag said it was a great experience, but "I can cycle better." The Hamburg marathon was won for the fourth time by Spaniard Julio Rey, in a time of 2:06:52.
