Very far from his past glory, Jan Ullrich almost did not see 2022. Hospitalized in December initially in Mexico, before being transferred to a clinic in Switzerland, the winner of the 1997 Tour de France believes he has still “escaped death”. He returned to his recent health problems in an interview with the German newspaper Bild on Friday.
While on the plane, after a trip to Cuba, bound for Germany, Jan Ullrich felt unwell, eventually ending up in hospital in Mexico. The German press then reported that he had suffered a relapse due to his alcohol problems. “It’s true that I was hospitalized,” he said. I had very severe thrombosis and blood poisoning. But I’m no longer addicted, the former German cyclist, now 48, promised. At the start of treatment I had a drug test, which of course was negative. “
Alcohol and drug addiction
This is not the first time that Jan Ullrich has come close to death. In a podcast last September with his former rival Lance Armstrong, he confessed to having already come close to drama in 2018 due to his addiction to alcohol and drugs. “I followed the same path as Marco Pantani, I almost died”, then commented the German, referring to the Italian rider, who tragically died in 2004.
“Lance Armstrong was the first person to see me at the hospital. He helped me a lot, I want to thank him for that, ”said Ullrich, of the Texan who went to the hospital in Mexico several times. “I have three or four intervertebral discs that have completely collapsed, added the former champion, to explain his problems. I’m only 1.81m tall, where I was 1.83m before. “
