Suddenly Germany is in cycling fever. Every year in July, millions of people gather in front of the television and suffer for hours with Ullrich as they climb the mountain giants in the Alps and the Pyrenees. Ullrich is everyone’s darling, the pop star on two wheels. The buddy who likes to go overboard in winter and carries around a few extra pounds.
Unique talent
His talent on the bike is almost unique. Ullrich becomes Olympic champion, world champion, German champion. But he won’t win the tour again, although experts like Eddy Merckx predict five or more victories for him. A certain Lance Armstrong stands in his way. “I think that Jan was stronger than Armstrong in terms of his sporting potential,” says Pevenage. “Well, Armstrong also had a different character. He concentrated on cycling for the whole twelve months.”
And it is Ullrich who drives Armstrong to peak performance. “He had so much talent. He scared me. This man made me get up early, he made me go to bed early,” said Armstrong in the ARD documentary “Being Jan Ullrich”. The Texan, who was obsessed and cured of cancer, wins the Tour of France seven times – with illegal means, as it later turns out. For Ullrich there is often only second place. This doesn’t change anything about its popularity.
Tragic turning point in 2006
When Armstrong quits, Ullrich wants to be on the tour throne again in 2006. A final attack for the great goal. It remains an unfulfilled wish. In Spain, the Radstar was exposed at the large-scale Operacion Puerto as a customer of the doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. Ullrich is taken out of the starting field before the tour, his T-Mobile team draws a quick line. The tragic turning point in Ullrich’s life.
Extensive investigations by the public prosecutor’s office in Bonn follow. His career ended in one fell swoop, and Ullrich will never get on his bike again as a professional athlete. However, it was only banned in 2012 by the International Court of Arbitration for Sports Cas.
Ullrich also delivers negative headlines privately. Like in 2014, when he rammed two cars in Switzerland with a blood alcohol level of 1.8 at a significantly higher speed. Ullrich gets away with a suspended sentence.
Ullrich moves to Mallorca with his wife and children, but the marriage breaks up after 13 years. The Radstar remains alone in Mallorca. A shocking video is doing the rounds. In the course of a dispute on the neighboring property of TV star Til Schweiger, he was temporarily taken into police custody. Ullrich comes back to Germany, where the next scandal occurs. In a luxury hotel in Frankfurt, there is a physical altercation with an escort lady.
Referral to Psychiatry
Ullrich is under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Eventually, he was admitted to a psychiatric ward. Ullrich is at the bottom until his old rival Armstrong suddenly shows up. “It was scary for me. I saw a man in a place that no human being had ever seen before. (…) I had never seen anyone in such a state,” said Armstrong. Ullrich recovers and later reports in Armstrong’s podcast: “I was on the way from Marco Pantani. Almost dead.”