Former cycling star - Jan Ullrich: "Escaped death once again"

Former cycling star Jan Ullrich has spoken publicly for the first time about his state of health following a stay in hospital.

The 1997 Tour de France winner told the "Bild" newspaper: "I had a thrombosis and very severe blood poisoning. Once again I escaped death! To clear up all the speculation: I took a drug test at the beginning of the treatment - and of course it was negative!"

Help from Armstrong

In autumn 2018, Ullrich admitted to drug problems in a statement and said he was undergoing treatment. A few months ago, in the presence of his former rival Lance Armstrong, he gave deep insights into what was probably the most difficult phase of his life. "You know my story, three years ago I was in a really bad way. You visited me and I was on the same path as Marco Pantani - almost dead," said Ullrich in the presence of Armstrong and his former team-mate George Hincapie and team boss Johan Bruyneel on Armstrong's podcast "The Move".

Ullrich also thanked Armstrong this time: "He was the first one with me in Mexico and helped me a lot. I thank him very much, as well as the rest of my team." The 48-year-old also said: "My back has also caused me a lot of problems recently, three or four discs are now completely rubbed out." He used to be 1.83 metres tall, "now it's only 1.81".

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