When the 23-year-old Jan Ullrich stormed to victory in the 1997 Tour de France it looked like the start of a long period of dominance by the German.
Fitness problems, Lance Armstrong and finally a doping investigation combined to thwart him, however, and his retirement at the age of 33 comes after a decade of Tour disappointments.
There were certainly successes along the way. In 1999 he won the Tour of Spain and in 2000 he won a gold and silver medal at the Sydney Olympics.
But greatness in cycling is measured by the Tour de France and while Ullrich was a regular on the podium, with a total of five second-places to his name, the second victory he dreamed of remained beyond his grasp.
His retirement announcement on Monday came eight months after he was withdrawn from the T-Mobile team for the Tour de France over suspicions of a link to the massive anti-doping investigation being conducted by police in Spain.
With Armstrong by then retired, after winning the Tour for seven straight years, Ullrich was denied his last, best shot at a second title and he still sounded bitter on Monday.
"My exclusion from the Tour in 2006 was like a bad dream," said Ullrich, who has always denied having any involvement in doping. "It was a huge shock, one which I still haven't been able to come to terms with.
"I've never deceived anyone and I'm not to be blamed."
If anyone could have broken Armstrong's reign it was Ullrich.
His victory in the Tour in 1997 left the cycling world open-mouthed, as the big, freckled German won by more than nine minutes.
"We have witnessed the birth of a champion," Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc said as Ullrich became the first German to win the French classic.
Many wondered whether anyone would be able to match his all-round strength in time trials and in the mountains but the following season he had injury problems and in the end had to settle for second place in the Tour behind Marco Pantani.
Finishing second was something he would have to get used to as Armstrong set about writing his name in cycling history.
Most years Ullrich seemed to come into the event less than fully prepared and he was runner-up to the American in 2000, 2001 and 2003.
In 2002 Ullrich was found guilty of drink-driving after crashing his Porsche and two months later his team announced he had tested positive for a recreational drug, a result Ullrich blamed on "two little pills" he had taken at a nightclub because he was feeling depressed.
Ullrich left Telekom and raced for the Bianchi team in the 2003 Tour. That was the year he came closest to beating Armstrong, with a fall in the decisive time trial on the penultimate day finally costing him victory.
After returning to Telkom, now named T-Mobile, he was on the podium at the Tour again in 2005, finishing third behind Armstrong in what turned out to be the last Tour appearances for both great rivals.
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