“It depends on the training”
With over 50: Jan Ullrich, Tour-de-France stage can imagine
04.05.2025 – 9:42 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Jan Ullrich has long ended his cycling career. However, he could still imagine a stage at the Tour de France.
At 51, Jan Ullrich still thinks about how far his body could carry him on the racing bike – at least theoretically. In an interview with the German Press Agency, the 1997 Tour-de-France winner said that he could imagine participation in a stage of the France tour. “It depends on the training,” said Ullrich. “If I had no other tasks now, I could train 25,000 or 30,000 kilometers a year, then of course you can go back to a good shape,” said Ullrich. “But at the moment I couldn’t drive a stage.”
The former bike star emphasized that the human body was “incredibly trainable”. In his opinion, the talent was still available. At the same time, he admitted that he had now left competition thinking behind. “I don’t know if you still want to deal with this racing character in the peloton.”
On the other hand, Ullrich did not end a duel with his former rival Lance Armstrong. That is not yet a specific plan, but: “You never know,” said the Rostock native. “We are both healthy and cheerful,” he said. The American once supported him in a difficult phase of life, and since then the two have been good friends.
There is a reunion with Armstrong at the “Jan Ullrich Cycling Festival” in Bad Dürrheim in the Black Forest. On May 18, drives together – however, the focus is not on competition. The route comprises up to four rounds of 29.7 kilometers, and children can also participate. Ullrich announced that I wanted to pedal especially for fans. “Eat cakes, drink a coffee and see how many round me,” he said.
In addition to Armstrong, other well -known names from cycling are expected – including Bradley Wiggins, Mario Cipollini, Udo Bölts and Andreas Klöden. With Bölts, Ullrich was recently in the Vosges. When the weather is nice, he still sits on the bike as much as possible: “Otherwise I drive between two and three hours a day, if I can somehow.”