After his various escapades in recent years, public appearances by Germany’s only Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich have become very rare. But on Sunday it was time again, as one of the greatest German cycling legends of all time appeared as a spectator at the German Championships in Bad Dürrheim. And Jan Ullrich was not the only cycling hero of the past who paid a visit to the major event in Baden-Württemberg.
Ullrich himself shared several pictures on social media on Sunday that showed him visiting the destination of the road race, where he himself won the German championship title 21 years ago.
Among other things, he met André Greipel in Bad Dürrheim, who himself was an active cyclist until 2021 and had become German road champion three times in his career.
However, Jan Ullrich caused a particular stir when he met former sprint star Erik Zabel. The 1997 Tour winner also shared this meeting in his Instagram story.
Ullrich and Zabel celebrated great successes together
Jan Ullrich and Erik Zabel were considered the best German cyclists of their time. In the year of Ullrich’s tour success, Zabel won the green jersey in the Tour of France as the best sprinter – like six times in his career.
In addition to their sporting successes, Ullrich and Zabel also made many negative headlines with several doping scandals. To this day, her reputation in the German sports world is therefore controversial.
26 years ago, Ullrich was the only German to win the most important cycling race in the world and triggered a cycling boom in Germany. The career of the multiple world champion came to an abrupt end in 2006 after his connection to doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes became public. For this he was later banned by the International Court of Arbitration for Sport Cas.
After the end of his career, Erik Zabel himself made a detailed confession that he had doped extensively between 1996 and 2003. Jan Ullrich has refrained from doing so to this day.