Jan Ullrich: Cycling legend sees himself socially rehabilitated after crimes

Sports doping confession

Ullrich sees himself socially rehabilitated after committing crimes

As of: 10:47 a.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes

In November, Jan Ullrich admitted to doping after years of silence

Source: picture alliance/dpa/Angelika Warmuth

Almost six months ago, Jan Ullrich admitted to doping. The 50-year-old sees the decision to confess as positive. He recently completely turned his life around. The battle against addiction appears to have been won.

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich sees himself on the right track almost six months after his doping confession. The 50-year-old told BILD that it “took me until now to find my center again and be with myself.” “I have a story, but now that everyone knows it, everyone can deal with it better.” Now For example, the broadcaster Eurosport asked again whether they could do something about the Tour de France. “This shows me that I’m on the right path and that people are finally forgiving me.”

In November, the 1997 Tour de France champion admitted to doping after years of silence. “Without helping, that was the widespread perception at the time, it would be like going to a shootout armed only with a knife,” he told “Stern”. After joining the then top German racing team Telekom in 1995, he “learned pretty quickly that doping was widespread.”

He had previously repeatedly refused to confess to doping. However, he did not want to go public with the equal opportunity argument in 2006 after he was suspended from the team because of connections to the Spanish doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. “I didn’t want to be a traitor. “I didn’t want to come out with half-truths and certainly not with the whole truth,” Ullrich said in the interview at the time, justifying it with legal constraints: “There were livelihoods hanging on it, families, friends. The lawyers told me: Either you go out and tear everything down, or you don’t say anything at all.”

Ullrich is critical of his doping offense

past, as well as his sensational escapades and excesses. The ex-professional cyclist, who had fallen deeply, had also experienced some turbulence in his private life. He has been dry for years now. “I eat healthily, I haven’t drunk alcohol for five years and I try to ride my bike for two hours four times a week. “Only not in sleet,” he said.

also read

Ullrich is critical of his doping offense. “Of course the doping thing was a huge mistake, and I can only strongly advise everyone against it,” he said. “But the pressure in sport and in society was different back then.” He is currently taking a slower approach to his life. Ullrich said that he “does everything very quietly, unlike before, takes a lot of time for the family and doesn’t want to take over myself. I do three or four larger projects a year, including a book and a museum coming this year.”