You’ve no doubt seen this video, and if you stumble over to kolo t.c. again, it will probably posted a few times throughout the summer. But nothing will make you want to go ride as much as Jani’s reason for riding his bike.

“He’s out there riding because he loves it.” Straight from the video. And that’s Jani, and that’s why he’s a professional cyclists. In a sport where riders don’t try at every race or abandon if it’s rainy, Jani is giving all he has, every race, every mile, every pedal stroke. He’s the reigning Slovenian time trial national champion and almost a lock to pair with Roman Krezinger as Astana’s Tour de France GC threat.

Last year, Jani crashed out. After the RadioShack-Leopard merger, there wasn’t enough room for the rising star in an outfit that includes the Schlecks, Andreas Kloden, Chris Horner, Fabian Cancellara, Jakob Fuglsang and a number of other top names. Jani returned to his old Astana outfit and has had a rough spring, riding in support of Roman Krezinger on a few occasions and lacking his top-form at Paris-Nice. He’ll be back at the Tour in 2012 with big ambitions and a chip on his shoulder. kolo t.c. predicts he’ll beat both Schlecks, at the very least.

If this doesn’t make you want to go ride your bike for five or six hours, you have no pulse.