As a Rostockian by choice, but above all as an enthusiastic boy, which I was in the summer of 1997, Jan Ullrich's life has been close to my heart for years. Back then, he wrote a racing bike moment of the year for the first time. I never felt cheated, rather disappointed. However, not by "Ulle", but by the industry, which initially made him one of the first all-German sporting heroes, even an emperor, and later demonised him with a vehemence that is unparalleled in the recent history of the German press landscape.
The fact that I also earn my living in this profession today: coincidence, fate, destiny - take your pick. However, I'm not travelling to avenge anyone or anything like that. Nevertheless, I'm always happy when there's good news from Ullrich. And there was in 2023.
Leaving the past behind
Jan Ullrich has confessed to doping. The public no longer needed that. And, I have the impression, they were no longer interested in it - although they had been demanding it from him for years. The story that Germany would finally forgive him after a confession turns out to be exactly that: an untrue, strange story. The accompanying Amazon documentary was merely a rehashing of the old stories for the masses, a chance to relive and condemn Ullrich's crashes of recent years.
However much money Amazon Ullrich may have paid to make the story, it is likely to be far less important in the future life of the man who turned 50 just a few days ago than the sentence he had to say out loud. For as little significance as his confession still has for the world, it has a lot for Ullrich himself. Now he is free, now he can put the last 16 years that have passed since his exclusion from the 2006 Tour de France behind him.
Now Ullrich wants to return to his beloved sport of cycling. But it is still unclear to what extent he wants one of his best eleven to return. Because no one has really cancelled Ullrich's status as persona non grata yet. To what extent the man who has largely missed out on development at all levels for 15 years can help professionally is another question entirely.
Debt reduction for further moments of the year
Another question is whether Ullrich would be doing himself any favours at all. Other names show that the Ullrich case is not about the principle - i.e. the fight against doping - but about the person. For example, Rolf Aldag, who worked in German teams before and after his doping confession and now holds the sporting reins at Bora-Hansgrohe. Ullrich would again be watched with suspicious eyes and constantly confronted with his past. It seems to go without saying that a different standard is applied to him than to others.
Maybe it doesn't have to be elite sport. Maybe it can be popular sport. Perhaps an ambassadorial function. After all, it doesn't take much imagination to realise that Ullrich, after everything he has been through, will keep his hands off doping in the future and can credibly convey to others that he should do the same.
And so the only German Tour winner to date could possibly contribute to future generations being able to provide further racing bike moments of the year. I for one - and I'm sure he too - would be delighted if he were given the opportunity to minimise his seemingly boundless debt to the country and its people. But only time will tell whether there will be another comeback in cycling after his comeback in real life.
