Tour de France Winner Jan Ullrich Admits to Doping in the Tour and the Aftermath of Drug Abuse
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In news we all kind of already knew but didn’t have complete confirmation of, it’s now official: legendary cyclist Jan Ullrich has admitted to doping during his time in the pro peloton. He made the admission just ahead of the release of a German documentary chronicling his life on the bike, and the aftermath of his pro career, which included cocaine and alcohol abuse, assault charges, and arguably even more drama than Lance.
He dropped the truth bomb Wednesday at a panel for his documentary, saying simply, “Yes, I did dope,” according to German website Speigel.de. He said the doping began in 1996, the year before he won the Tour de France. (“I was young and naive and came into an existing system,” he said.)
In this translated interview, Ullrich seemed to be using that old chestnut, the ‘but everyone else was doing it’ excuse. “Knowing that you otherwise have no chance from the start was the hardest thing,” said Ullrich [translated]. “Because I’m a fair person, it was never about cheating anyone or gaining an advantage.”
Amongst his chief rivals was Lance Armstrong—who ultimately became a close friend after they’d both left the sport.
Ullrich was ultimately suspended in 2006 right before the start of the Tour de France, as part of the blood doping ring run by Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. This suspension marked the end of his pro cycling career, and in the documentary, he openly talks about his sharp downturn that happened a decade later.
He experienced a mental and physical breakdown which led to issues with alcohol, cocaine abuse, and eventually, an assault on a prostitute in 2019, for which he was fined and received a criminal record. He admitted in an interview that his addiction to whiskey and cocaine “turned him into a monster.”
Ullrich was also questioned as to whether he should be allowed to keep his 1997 Tour de France title, given his admission. He said that he believes he should be allowed to keep it, but that the choice isn’t up to him.
Now, his children are involved in cycling, and he hopes to be as well—how much he’ll be allowed to will depend on how the German governing body takes his doping admission. But Ullrich does seem to be in a healthier, happier place and has rekindled his love of cycling, whether or not the cycling world will welcome him with open arms.
The four-part documentary on Ullrich is titled ‘Der Gejagte’ (translation: ‘The Hunted’), and will be released on Amazon Prime in Germany from November 28, 2023. TBD if it will be released stateside.
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