Jan Ullrich would have liked to have gone public about his doping past sooner. “I missed the opportunity,” said the only German Tour de France winner and admitted doper on the ARD programme “Inas Nacht”.
“I could have exposed the whole cycling world,” he said. But he “loved the sport too much” to do that. “The fact that I’m now the one who’s somehow shedding light on the matter or giving other colleagues or even sponsors a hard time,” said the 52-year-old.
Confession of doping three years ago
In 2023, Ullrich had admitted to doping in a documentary, but had remained tight-lipped about the details. His book was published a year later. The 2000 Olympic champion is now making more frequent public appearances again. At this year’s Tour de France, the 1997 Tour champion watched the 14th stage in person; for a long time, Ullrich was regarded as persona non grata by the Tour organisers.
Is cycling a clean sport today? “I wouldn’t stake my life on it. I don’t know,” he said on the programme. “And all the things we got up to back then have, after all, led to a clean sport today,” he said.
Back then, people had convinced themselves that if everyone was doing it, then it wasn’t doping any more and it all came down to talent. He was active at a time when doping was simply part and parcel of being a professional. It had been a “crap time”. “It really got me down,” he added. In the years following the Tour, Ullrich suffered from depression. He repeatedly made negative headlines due to scandals and his alcohol and drug addiction.
Copyright 2026, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved
