Dhe only German Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich wants to “unpack – comprehensive, honest and exclusive” in a documentary series from Amazon Prime Video. The streaming service announced this in a statement on Monday. In four episodes, the career, the successes and the crashes of the former cycling star should be looked back on.
“Lately a lot has been reported about me, positive and negative. Now it’s time for me to tell my story, the whole story of how I went from hunter to hunted. I would like to take you on a journey through my life. With all the turbulence, setbacks and challenges,” Ullrich was quoted as saying in the message. The native of Rostock had previously rejected an extensive doping confession.
Great response
25 years ago, Ullrich was the only German to win the most important cycling race in the world and triggered a cycling boom in Germany. The career of the multiple world champion came to an abrupt end in 2006 after his connection to doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes became public. For this he was later banned by the International Court of Arbitration for Sport Cas. After that, Ullrich also made many negative headlines privately.
Before the Tour de France this summer, an ARD documentary had caused a great response. In it, the Olympic champion from 2000 did not have a say himself. It was not mentioned when the documentary will appear on Amazon Prime Video.
Most recently, 25 years after his Tour de France triumph, Ullrich thanked his cycling fans for their great sympathy in an open letter. “This tour brought back memories for many of you, too. Many have written to me in recent weeks, including many with very personal messages: Some have reported that my Tour victory motivated them to buy a bike and start cycling or even racing,” the former cycling star wrote in the Letter that appeared in the “Bild” newspaper.
Ullrich was the first German to win the Tour of France in 1997. After that he took second places several times, but he could not repeat the triumph. After his involuntary career end due to the 2006 tour exclusion, Ullrich often got into trouble in his private life. “There were also some who, like me, had a very eventful life story or difficult phases in life, and many parallels in your stories were clearly recognizable with my own. That touched me very much,” added Ullrich.
The 48-year-old followed the 2022 tour as a TV viewer. “The Tour is an unbelievable test of endurance. And the drivers are rightly called ‘heroes and gladiators of the country road’, says Ullrich, who also thinks back to his triumph: ‘I also remember the moment when our captain Bjarne Riis and my team gave me the go-ahead’ to be allowed to drive for me’ and then to put on the yellow jersey that day in Andorra. This will always be one of my fondest memories that I will never forget!”
