Former cycling star Jan Ullrich has explicitly admitted for the first time that he took doping substances during his career.
“Yes, I did dope,” said the 49-year-old on Wednesday during a panel discussion on the sidelines of the presentation of the documentary series “Jan Ullrich – The Hunted” (from November 28th/Prime Video): “If I had told my story, I would have “We were able to gain many wonderful years. I didn’t have the balls. It feels really good to say it.”
Ullrich: I was guilty
He was “guilty” and feels “guilty,” said Ullrich, who had previously spoken in detail about autologous blood doping in his past as a professional in the SID interview. “I knew internally that I also had to adapt medically,” said the 49-year-old. In the doping-infested cycling sport of that time, it was “always just about equal opportunities”.
Ullrich first contacted the now notorious doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes from Spain in the summer of 2003. “I wanted to win and build on my successes. I had a new team at the time and Dr. Fuentes was recommended to me. That’s how I ended up there,” he said. Shortly before the start of the Tour de France in 2006, this connection was to be Ullrich’s undoing – he was excluded from his team T-Mobile and ultimately ended his career in 2007.
However, the 1997 Tour de France winner emphasized that the blood doping was only “the last bit” from a sporting perspective. “You still have to have huge talent, still be hardworking and subordinate your whole life.” Ullrich wasn’t worried about his health at the time – “because everything was medically controlled. Ultimately, it was my own blood that I had taken – something natural,” he said.
It started in 1996
Other forms of illicit performance enhancement were already common practice at the beginning of Ullrich’s professional career in 1995, as Ullrich emphasized: “It started for me in 1996. When I came into contact with it, there were already substances that could not be controlled. It had been in cycling for a few years. Cycling already had a problem back then.”
The highly gifted Rostock native was therefore forced to resort to doping substances. “When I realized that I no longer had equal opportunities, the mental aspect also came into play. You sacrificed your whole life, you know you have the talent in you, you get better every year. And then knowing that otherwise “Having no chance from the start was the hardest thing,” said Ullrich. For him it was never about “cheating anyone or gaining an advantage, but about equal opportunities.”