The Curse of the Rainbow Jersey: Ballan Feels the Sting of the Multi-Colored Jersey in 2009

Alessandro Ballan, like many world champions before him, has had a tough time starting races, much less winning them, thus far in 2009. After a solid run up to the Monte Paschi Eroica race in February, Ballan was suddenly struck down with illness, which has continued to this day. In fact, he has not been able to recover in time for the first monument of 2009, the Milan-San Remo race. So, in addition to having missed all of the semi classics and theItalian Tirreno-Adriatico stage race this year, Ballan will now also be sidelined for the most important one day race on Italian soil.

Ballan isn't the first world champion to have trouble winning in the rainbow jersey. "The Cricket" Paolo Bettini won the world championship in both 2007 and 2008, but besides his impressive wins at each event, he was unable to rack up any other prestigious wins. In fact, as his production declined over the last two years of his career, it could be argued that the rainbow jersey played a huge part in his retiring at the age of 32 after last year's world championship race.

As he has done in previous seasons, Ballan is targeting the cobbled-classics as his biggest objectives, and there is still enough time for the lanky Italian to prepare for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. But unless he can enter some races soon to get some actual racing in, he may be less than ideally prepared for the two huge one day races in April.

In addition to Paolo Bettini, the rider to have experienced the curse the most must be the Spaniard Igor Astarloa. After taking the title in 2003, Astarloa ran into problem after problem, until he was eventually found guilty for doping in 2006. He remains suspended. In a recent interview, Ballan expressed that he was "not at all" worried about a possible curse of the rainbow jersey. If asked again today, perhaps he would change his mind a bit.

Although having the rainbow jersey makes it more difficult to win and places more pressure on a rider, it still remains one of the, if not the most coveted prize in the sport of cycling. And if pressed on whether he would rather return the jersey in exchange for a win at a classic, Ballan and every other past world champion would undoubtedly answer no. The world champion's jersey, in addition to being one of a kind, is also usually a once in a lifetime experience for a given athlete, especially in road cycling. Ballan's win was especially sweet, as it come on home soil in Varese, Italy. Even if he can't manage even one win in 2009, his world championship win still will have been worth the trouble. A winless 2009 is unlikely though for Ballan, one of the brightest stars of professional cycling.