Biography Jan_Ullrich

1 biography

1.1 training
1.2 professional career
1.3 1996 tour de france
1.4 1997 tour de france
1.5 1998 tour de france
1.6 1999 vuelta españa
1.7 eternal second behind armstrong

1.7.1 2000 – 2002 tours
1.7.2 2003 tour , sportsmanship
1.7.3 2004 , 2005 tour


1.8 post-armstrong
1.9 doping
1.10 refusal of returning olympic medals

biography
early training

ullrich won first bicycle race @ age of nine. educated in sports training system of german democratic republic attending kjs sports school in berlin in 1986. in 1988, champion of german democratic republic. school closed 2 years after fall of berlin wall in 1989. he, trainer peter sager, , teammates joined amateur club in hamburg until 1994. in 1991, 5th in amateur cyclo-cross world championships.

in 1993, aged 19, @ hamburg club, ullrich won cycling world amateur road championship in oslo, lance armstrong won professional championship.

early professional career

in 1994 ullrich turned professional telekom team under walter godefroot. finished third behind chris boardman , andrea chiurato in world time trial championship in sicily.

ullrich inconspicuous in first 18 months professional. in 1995 became national time trial champion. achieved top ten placings on stages of 1995 tour de suisse. @ 21 wanted start 1995 tour de france godefroot thought early. instead went small german stage race, hofbrau cup, ended 3rd. ullrich started vuelta later year abandon on stage 12.

1996 tour de france

ullrich gave place in 1996 german olympic team ride first tour. finished prologue 33 seconds down. stayed within top 20 until mountains on stage 7 when miguel indurain cracked. ullrich finished 30 seconds back, 22 behind teammate bjarne riis while indurain finished 4 minutes down. on following stage, finished in same group indurain 40 seconds behind riis. on stage 9, riis rode yellow jersey leader of general classification while ullrich finished 44 seconds , 5th place overall 1-minute 38 seconds riis.

over final mountains, ullrich rode second place behind riis, conceded time on each mountain stage, being 4 minutes behind riis. won final individual time trial , secured first tour stage win. cut 2 minutes 18 seconds riis s lead . led indurain comment ullrich win tour day, adding remarkable victory considering ullrich had been helping riis. ullrich dismissed suggestions have done better if had not had riis, saying riis had inspired team. jan finished first tour in second place @ 1-minute 41 seconds teammate bjarne riis.

1997 tour de france

ullrich teammate udo bölts crossing vosges mountains during 1997 tour de france.

ullrich had 2 wins before 1997 tour; stage in tour de suisse , national road race championship week before tour. became favorite in 1997 tour de france. started strongly, finishing second in prologue behind chris boardman. on stage 9, first mountain stage won laurent brochard, ullrich worked riis. on last ascent when richard virenque attacked did ullrich react. riis struggled keep , finished 30 seconds behind virenque, marco pantani , ullrich. on stage 10 luchon andorra arcalis, riis again falling back, ullrich dropped teamcar ask permission attack. returned lead group , pushed climb leaving pantani , virenque. finished minute ahead earned first yellow jersey leader of general classification. l Équipe, greeted ullrich voilà le patron ( here boss ). ullrich won stage 12 time trial 3 minutes between himself , second placed rider, virenque, had started 3 minutes in front of him.

marco pantani attacked on stage alpe d huez. ullrich, 9 minutes ahead of pantani overall, limited losses 47 seconds. pantani attacked again on morzine stage , won, while ullrich again limited losses. in final time trial, won abraham olano, ullrich extended lead on virenque , following day became first german win tour de france. @ 23, ullrich fourth youngest winner of tour since 1947. 2 weeks later, won hews cycling classic in hamburg. further 2 weeks later ullrich beaten davide rebellin in sprint in gp suisse. chosen sports person of year in germany in 1997.

1998 tour de france

ullrich defending champion in 1998. took lead in general classification on stage 7, time trial, on 58 km of undulating roads. however, on stage 15 marco pantani blew tour apart victory began on galibier. ullrich without support when pantani attacked. pantani topped galibier alone. misty , roads wet. descent dangerous , pantani increased lead. bottom of final climb, les deux alpes, pantani had 4 minutes. telekom brought udo bölts , riis pace ullrich. pantani race leader crossed line. ullrich finished 9 minutes back, dropping fourth position, 6 minutes behind pantani.

ullrich attacked on stage 16 on col de la madeleine. pantani match him. ullrich did work. on top, started work together. ullrich won photo-finish sprint , moved third. won final stage, 20 km time trial, , moved second.

the tour of 1998 haunted doping affairs, giving nickname tour de dopage.

in following year during inaugural deutschland tour, ullrich fell after getting entangled udo bölts during stage 3. had knee injury , not ride 1999 tour, ended in first of 7 victories lance armstrong. ullrich set targets on world time trial championship in october riding vuelta.

1999 vuelta españa

on first mountain stage, ullrich narrowly won against defending vuelta españa champion abraham olano of team once in group sprint included frank vandenbroucke, roberto heras , davide rebellin. olano took leader s golden jersey ullrich second. olano won following stage, time trial, 1 minute on ullrich , increased lead in stage 8. on stage 11, ullrich gained 30 seconds on olano. ullrich took lead on stage 12 won igor gonzález de galdeano, olano faltered due broken rib , finished 7 minutes behind ullrich. later abandoned race.

gonzales de galdeano had moved second overall , became threat ullrich. on stage 18 banesto , other spanish teams tried crack ullrich, struggled on final climb recovered limit losses gonzález. in final time trial, ullrich won 3 minutes , built overall lead 4 minutes on gonzález. ullrich won second major tour. several weeks later became world time trial champion on sweden s michael andersson , briton chris boardman.

eternal second behind armstrong
2000 – 2002 tours

the 2000 tour de france brought ullrich, marco pantani , armstrong against each other first time. armstrong proved strong , won , again in 2001. ullrich crashed in 2001 , armstrong waited him return bike. ullrich cited failure defeat armstrong why fell depression next year.

ullrich rode in 2000 summer olympics in sydney, australia. after establishing three-man break telekom teammates andreas klöden , alexander vinokourov, ullrich won gold vinokourov second , klöden rounding out all-telekom podium. won silver in time-trial, losing 7 seconds viatcheslav ekimov beating armstrong soundly third.

in may 2002, ullrich had driver s license revoked after drunk driving incident. after positive blood sample amphetamine in june 2002, ullrich s contract team telekom ended, , banned 6 months. said had taken ecstasy amphetamine. had not been racing since january due knee injury, , german cycling federation s disciplinary committee agreed not attempting use drug performance enhancement, given minimum suspension.

in january 2003, ullrich , advisor rudy pevenage joined team coast, coast pulled out after financial problems , team bianchi replaced it. ullrich returned racing in march 2003 .

2003 tour , sportsmanship

the 2003 tour de france first many years ullrich had not been considered favorite. in first week, ullrich became sick , retired. lost minute , half on armstrong in alps. ullrich fought in time trial. armstrong had trouble heat , lost 1 , half minutes ullrich. ullrich within minute of armstrong in classification. next day, closed gap 19 seconds in first mountain stage. 2 days later ullrich rode away armstrong on tourmalet armstrong caught up. half way next climb, luz ardiden, armstrong s handlebar got caught in spectator s yellow musette waving in air , fell. ullrich waited armstrong recover, returning courteous display armstrong 2 years previously. armstrong caught group , attacked shortly afterwards.

ullrich lost 40 seconds in final kilometers, final time trial decisive. in it, ullrich crashed , saw stage , tour victory disappear. finished second, 71 seconds.

germany made ullrich sportsman of year. commenting on ullrich s wait armstrong recover, dan boyle, of institute international sport said act live him forever, cynics lost money, highly commendable thing did.

2004 , 2005 tour

for 2004 ullrich returned team telekom, named t-mobile. won tour de suisse. in tour de france, finished fourth, 8:50 behind armstrong, first finish lower second. klöden finished second , ivan basso third.

jan ullrich in hanover.

for 2005, ullrich again captained t-mobile. maintained low profile season, surfacing in 2005 tour de suisse, finished third behind aitor gonzález , michael rogers.

the day before 2005 tour de france, ullrich training when team car stopped unexpectedly. ullrich hit window, ending in seat of car. less 24 hours later ullrich passed armstrong in time trial. ullrich fell again in mountains, bruising ribs. not keep armstrong or ivan basso. ullrich began focusing on finishing ahead of michael rasmussen podium position. rode second time trial, beating armstrong. rasmussen had several crashes , bike changes, gave ullrich podium place in tour.

post-armstrong

armstrong retired after tour in 2005. ullrich decided ride 1 or 2 more years. reports said ullrich in better shape previous years , ready second victory in tour. ullrich finished 115th in tour de romandie on 30 april. however, injured knee in off-season, have limited performance in 2006 tour, had participated (see below).

in may, riding giro d italia prepare tour, ullrich targeted stage 11 50 km time trial, , won 28 seconds on ivan basso, beat marco pinotti 33 seconds. 5 riders finished within 2 minutes of ullrich.

ullrich dropped out of giro during stage 19, pain. rudy pevenage said problem not bad ullrich wanted avoid tour de france problems.

ullrich won tour de suisse second time, winning final time trial , jumping third first.

doping

during 2006 giro d italia, ullrich mentioned in doping scandal, operación puerto. ullrich denied rumors. however, on 30 june 2006, 1 day before tour de france, suspended participating. ivan basso , other riders excluded. on 20 july 2006, ullrich fired t-mobile. general manager olaf ludwig announced news during 18th stage of tour between morzine , macon. ullrich said dismissal unacceptable.

i disappointed decision not communicated me faxed lawyers. find shameful that, after many years of cooperation , after have done team, being treated fax number.

on 3 august 2006, doping expert werner franke claimed ullrich purchased €35,000 worth of doping products year based on documents uncovered in operación puerto doping case. german court imposed gag order on franke after found there not enough evidence link ullrich doping. on 14 september 2006, officials raided ullrich s house , collected dna material while ullrich honeymooning new wife sara. on 4 april 2007, ullrich s dna sample, had without doubt matched 9 bags of blood taken eufemiano fuentes office.

on 18 october 2006, ullrich laid off personal physiotherapist birgit krohme. speculation rose sign ullrich had given hope of returning racing. ullrich denied these rumors. 1 day later, ullrich canceled licence of swiss cycling federation, , looking different federation licence of 2007. ullrich claimed swiss cycling federation had stop doping investigation, swiss federation continued investigation. on 25 october 2006, document spanish court on ullrich s website stated no charges filed.

on monday, 26 february 2007, ullrich retired. @ press conference in hamburg said, today, m ending career professional cyclist. never once cheated cyclist. said advisor team volksbank.

the ioc has investigated if ullrich should stripped of gold medal won @ 2000 olympic games, possible because there eight-year deadline investigations, , investigation started after 7 years. decided there no solid evidence against ullrich, , ullrich keep medal.

in 2008, german investigation closed after settlement, in german law means ullrich found not guilty. swiss investigation still ongoing @ time, closed case in february 2010, because ullrich no longer member of swiss cycling federation, , had no jurisdiction after retired. uci appealed decision @ court of arbitration sport (cas).

in 2010, doping allegations still ongoing, ullrich diagnosed burn-out, , avoided public appearances few months. when lance armstrong announced comeback professional cyclist, ullrich made clear not going same.

in february 2012, ullrich found guilty of doping offence cas. retroactively banned 22 august 2011, , results gained since may 2005 removed palmares. ullrich published statement on website, said not appeal decision. admitted had had contact fuentes, considered mistake regrets.

in june 2013, ulrich went on record stating d said lance wouldn’t out of it. made many enemies. later month, admitted doped of spanish doctor eufemiano fuentes. name on list of doping tests published french senate on 24 july 2013 collected during 1998 tour de france , found positive epo when retested in 2004.

refusal of returning olympic medals

on 17 january 2013, day armstrong admitted doping in 7 tour wins, stripped of 3rd-place finish @ 2000 sydney olympics men s time trial race. on 13 september 2013, armstrong said had sent bronze medal international olympic committee. on 2 october, ioc confirmed had received medal.

at same olympics, ullrich finished 1st in men s road race , 2nd in men s time trial race. unlike armstrong, said refused return medals if stripped of finishes. in interview sky sports said: @ time taking performance-enhancing substances. didn’t take not taken others. have been cheating me if had gotten advantage not case. wanted ensure had equal opportunity. date, ullrich has not been stripped of finishes.