Jan Ulrich
Jan Ullrich (Rostock, GDR, December 2, 1973) is a professional German ex-cyclist. Despite being especially strong in the time trial, he defended himself well in all terrains, being a cyclist who always fought for the top positions in the general classification, especially in the Tour de France. He spent his entire career (1994-2006) in the Telekom / T-Mobile team, except for the 2003 season, which he ran for Team Bianchi.
Among his most important achievements are his victories in the 1997 Tour de France and the 1999 Vuelta a España, as well as being a two-time World Time Trial champion (1999 and 2001). He also won two Olympic medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics: road gold and time trial silver.
His greatest successes took place in the Tour de France. In total, he was on the podium in the general classification of the Tour seven times out of the eight he participated: 1st once (1997), 2nd five times (1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003) and 3 times..º (2005), although this last podium was annulled seven years later due to a sanction in February 2012, when he was already retired. The time he didn't get on the podium, he finished 4th (2004). He was also the best youngster on the Tour three times (1996, 1997, 1998), a record he shares with the Luxembourger Andy Schleck.
After Operation Puerto against doping broke out in Madrid (Spain) just before the 2006 Tour de France, he did not compete again, officially retiring from professional cycling in February 2007.
Biography
Previous Life
Born in a city in the northeast of Germany in the former GDR, under Soviet influence in education, Jan practiced all kinds of sports, handball, soccer, boxing and swimming, standing out mainly in athletics and cycling. He grew up in a very strict sports environment, long concentrations, exhaustive training sessions, devoid of social and family environments, typical of the GDR, where prodigious physiques were outlined at the same time as delicate personalities were forged.
Jan Ullrich was the second son of a family of four brothers, who were abandoned by the father figure. His mother decided to enlist him in the SC Dynamo Berlin, maximum exponent of the Kinder und Jugendspartakiade where Jan at the age of 13 was considered one of the best potentials in the country by winning in several specialties.
Ullrich won his first cycling race at the age of 11. He was educated in the sports training system of the defunct GDR, attending the KJS sports school in Berlin in 1986. In 1988, he was the GDR champion. The school closed two years later, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Ullrich, his coach Peter Sager and his teammates joined an amateur club in Hamburg until 1994. In 1991, he was 5th in the championships of the amateur cyclocross world.
In 1993, at the age of 19, he was the Road Cycling World Champion in the Amateur category (under-23) at the Oslo World Championships, where he was projected directly to professionalism. Coincidentally, that same year, his future rival, the American Lance Armstrong, was World Road Champion in the Professional (elite) category.
Early years as a professional
In 1994, with Becker as his agent, Ullrich made his professional debut with Walter Godefroot's Telekom team. He finished third behind Chris Boardman in the Time Trial World Championships held in Agrigento (Sicily).
Ullrich didn't stand out in his first 18 months as a pro. In 1995 he became the German Time Trial Champion. He also managed to enter the top 10 stages of the 1995 Tour of Switzerland. At 21, he wanted to debut in the 1995 Tour de France, but Godefroot thought he was too young. Instead, he went to the Hofbrau Cup, where he finished 3rd. He later started the Tour of Spain, leaving in the 12th stage.
Tour de France 1996
Ullrich gave up a spot on the 1996 German Olympic team to make his Tour de France debut. He finished the prologue stage 33 seconds behind the winner. He stayed within the top 20 overall until the mountainous stage 7, in which five-time Tour champion Miguel Induráin couldn't keep up with the best. Ullrich finished 30 seconds behind the stage winner, 22 seconds behind his teammate and leader Bjarne Riis, while Induráin lost 4 minutes. In the next stage, he finished in the same group as Induráin, 40 seconds behind Riis. On stage nine, Riis took the yellow jersey, while Ullrich finished 44 seconds later, placing 5th overall, 1 minute 38 seconds behind Riis.
In the final stages in the mountains, Ullrich improved to 2nd overall, although he continued to lose time to Riis, until he was about 4 minutes behind him. Ullrich won the final time trial, taking his first stage victory on the Tour, and cutting Riis by 2 minutes and 18 seconds. This fact led Miguel Induráin to say that Ullrich would one day win the Tour, adding that it was a significant victory considering that Ullrich had been working for Bjarne Riis. Ullrich denied comments that he would have done better had he not helped Riis, stating that Riis had inspired the team. Ultimately, Ullrich finished 2nd overall in his first Tour de France appearance, 1 minute behind. and 41 seconds from his leader at Telekom, Bjarne Riis.
Tour de France 1997
Ullrich had two victories before the 1997 Tour de France began: a stage of the Tour of Switzerland and the German Road Cycling Championships. He started the Tour strong, finishing second in the prologue stage, behind only Chris Boardman. On stage 9, the first mountain stage won by Laurent Brochard, Ullrich worked for Bjarne Riis, the leader of the Telekom team. Only on the last ascent, when Richard Virenque attacked, did Ullrich react. Riis struggled not to lose ground and finished 30 seconds behind Richard Virenque, Marco Pantani and Jan Ullrich. In the 10th stage, from Luchon to Ordino-Arcalís, in Andorra, with Riis once again giving up ground, Ullrich fell behind the team car to ask for permission to attack. He returned to the head of the pack, attacked and rocketed to the top leaving Pantani and Virenque behind, gaining another minute of advantage, earning him his first yellow jersey. L'Équipe feted Ullrich with the headline "Voilà le Patron" ("Here is the boss"). Ullrich won the 12th stage, a time trial, making a three-minute lead between himself and second-placed Virenque, who had started three minutes before him and was lapped.
Marco Pantani attacked on the Alpe d'Huez stage. Ullrich, who led Pantani by 9 minutes overall, only gave up 47. Pantani attacked again on the Morzine stage and won, but Ullrich again limited his loss. In the final time trial, won by Abraham Olano (4th overall), Ullrich increased his lead over Richard Virenque and the next day, in Paris, he became the first German cyclist to win the Tour de France. At 23, Ullrich was the fourth-youngest winner since 1947. Two weeks later he won the HEW Cyclassic in Hamburg. Another two weeks later, Ullrich came second in the Swiss GP, only beaten in the sprint by Davide Rebellin. He was voted “Sportsman of the Year” in Germany in 1997.
Tour de France 1998
Ullrich was defending his victory from the previous year in 1998. He took the yellow jersey on stage 7, a 58km time trial. But stages later Marco Pantani turned the Tour around with an epic victory on the very long stage ending in Les Deux Alpes, which began at the Galibier. Ullrich was without teammates when Pantani attacked, he also punctured and his nerves betrayed him at the worst moment. The Italian arrived at the Galibier alone; the roads were wet from the weather. The dangerous descent increased Pantani's income over Ullrich. By the time he reached the last port on foot, Les Deux Alpes, & # 34; El Pirata & # 34; he had a lead of about four minutes. The Telekom team sent Udo Bölts and then Bjarne Riis to help Ullrich. Marco Pantani donned the leader's yellow jersey as Ullrich lost almost 9 minutes in that stage, and was 4th overall, six minutes behind "El Pirata".
Ullrich attacked in the 16th stage at the Col de la Madeleine. Only Pantani about to follow him, Ullrich doing all the work. Near the top, they started working together. Ullrich won in a photo finish sprint, placing 3rd overall. He won the last time trial, over 20 km, finishing 2nd overall.
Tour 98 was marked by doping scandals (the Festina Case), earning it the nickname “Tour de Dopage”.
Tour of Spain 1999
In 1999, during the Tour of Germany, Ullrich fell after getting caught up with his teammate Udo Bölts on the 3rd stage. The leg injury prevented him from participating in the Tour de France, which was the first of seven consecutive Tours won by Lance Armstrong. Because of this, Ullrich set himself the goal of preparing for the World Time Trial Championship in October, deciding to also attend the Vuelta a España.
In the first mountain stage, Ullrich narrowly beat Abraham Olano (of the ONCE team), winner of the Vuelta a España the previous year, in a group sprint that also included Frank Vandenbroucke, Roberto Heras and Davide Rebellion. Olano took the leader's gold jersey, with Ullrich second. Olano won the next stage, a time trial, with about a minute on Ullrich, and increased his lead in the 8th stage. In stage 11, Ullrich took 30 seconds back from Olano. Ullrich took the lead in the 12th stage won by Galdeano's Igor González, in which Olano finished seven minutes behind Ullrich. Galdeano placed 2nd overall, becoming a threat to Ullrich. In the 18th stage, Banesto and other Spanish teams tried to unseat Ullrich, who struggled at the final summit, although he limited his time loss to Galdeano by recovering in the final stretch. In the last time trial, Ullrich won by around 3 minutes ahead of the second in the stage (Alex Zülle) and finally won the general classification by just over 4 minutes over Igor González de Galdeano. In this way, Ullrich won his second Grand Tour.
Weeks later, he also won the World Time Trial Championship, beating Michael Andersson from Sweden and Chris Boardman from Britain.
The eternal second behind Lance Armstrong
The 2000 Tour de France featured a battle between Ullrich, Marco Pantani and Lance Armstrong for the first time. Armstrong was the strongest in the field, winning in both 2000 and 2001, while Ullrich was 2nd in both Tours. Ullrich crashed on a stage in Tour 01 and Armstrong waited for him until he got back on the bike and returned to the group of favourites. Ullrich said that the inability to beat Armstrong was the reason that led to his depression the following year.
Ullrich had an outstanding participation in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. In the Road Race, after establishing a group of three cyclists with two other Telekom teammates, the Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov and the also German Andreas Klöden, Ullrich won the gold medal, with Vinokourov getting the silver and Klöden the bronze, thus achieving a historic podium taken by cyclists from the Telekom team. In the Time Trial, Ullrich won the silver medal, just shy of Russian Viatcheslav Ekimov's gold, but still ahead of Lance Armstrong, who was third (bronze).
In May 2002, Ullrich's driver's license was revoked after a drunken car accident. Following a blood sample that tested positive for amphetamines in June 2002, the Telekom team terminated his contract with Ullrich, who was sanctioned for six months. He said he took ecstasy along with amphetamines. In addition, he regularly frequented the cool room. He had not competed until January due to a leg injury, and the disciplinary committee of the German Cycling Federation agreed that he had not used performance-enhancing drugs (i.e., it was not doping), so suspension was minimal.
In January 2003, Ullrich and his advisor Rudy Pevenage joined Team Coast, although due to Coast's financial problems, the team was replaced by Team Bianchi, which retained the same structure. Ullrich returned to competition in March 2003, and on April 21 he won the German classic Tour of Cologne after a solo break of more than 50 kilometers at an average speed of more than 44 km/h, in what was qualified as an impressive victory for the chroniclers.
The 2003 Tour de France was the first in many years in which Ullrich was not considered one of the favorites for final victory. However, it would be the time that he came closest to unseating Lance Armstrong. In the first week, Ullrich felt unwell and was on the verge of withdrawing from the race. He lost 1 and a half minutes to Armstrong in the Alps. But he rallied in the time trial, taking a minute and a half off Armstrong, who struggled in the heat. The next day, he took him out of the wheel at the Tourmalet, and took another 7 seconds from him which, together with the bonus, made a total of 19 seconds, leaving Ullrich just 15 seconds behind in the general classification. In the final stage in Luz Ardiden, halfway up the last climb, Armstrong's handlebars caught on a spectator's bag, causing him to fall to the ground next to Iban Mayo. Ullrich, who narrowly escaped the fall, waited for the American, who caught up with the group and, shortly after, attacked, taking Ullrich by 40 seconds, which he could no longer recover. The final time trial seemed decisive. In a time trial marked by rain, Ullrich had an accident, losing his options to win the stage and the overall Tour. Ultimately, he finished 2nd overall, just 1 minute behind the Texan.
Germany declared Ullrich Sportsman of the Year in 2003.
For 2004, Ullrich returned to Team Telekom, renamed T-Mobile. He won the Tour of Switzerland. On the Tour he finished 4th overall, 8:50 behind Armstrong, who was joined on the podium by his compatriot and teammate Andreas Klöden, 2nd, and Italian Ivan Basso, 3rd. For the first time in his career, Ullrich was left off the podium in the Tour.
In 2005, after racing little in the first months of the year, he appeared in the Tour of Switzerland, where he finished third, behind Aitor González and Michael Rogers.
One day before the start of the 2005 Tour de France, Ullrich was training when his team car stopped unexpectedly; Ullrich hit the rear window, appearing in the back seat of the car. Less than 24 hours later, he was overtaken by Armstrong in the opening time trial. Ullrich fell back into the mountains, bruising his ribs. He couldn't keep up with Armstrong or Basso. Ullrich began to focus on finishing ahead of Michael Rasmussen overall, so he could get on the podium in Paris. He was second in the last time trial, only beaten by Armstrong. Rasmussen had numerous mishaps and bike changes, so Ullrich was ultimately 3rd overall, taking the podium, although this result was overturned seven years later by a retroactive penalty in February 2012.
Post-Armstrong
Lance Armstrong retired after the 2005 Tour de France. Ullrich decided to ride for another year or two. In early 2006, some reports claimed that Ullrich was in better shape than in previous years and may be ready for his second Tour victory. Ullrich finished 115th in the Tour de Romandie on April 30. However, he injured his leg in the off-season, which could have limited his performance in the 2006 Tour de France had he actually ridden it (see below).
In May, riding the Giro d'Italia to prepare for the Tour, Ullrich won the 11th stage, a 50km individual time trial, beating pink jersey rider Ivan Basso by 28 seconds. who in turn took 33 seconds from Marco Pinotti. Only five cyclists finished less than two minutes behind Ullrich. Ullrich withdrew from the Giro in the 19th stage, due to back pain. Rudy Pevenage assured that the problem was not serious, although Ullrich preferred to avoid problems for the Tour.
Ullrich won the Tour de Suisse for the second time, winning the final time trial, which earned him rise from third to first place overall.
However, all these results were annulled seven years later by a retroactive sanction in February 2012.
Operation Port and withdrawal
Ullrich was named in the weeks leading up to the 2006 Tour de France around Spain's recent Operation Puerto, a doping scheme allegedly led by Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. Ullrich denied the rumors. However, on June 30, 2006, one day before the start of the Tour, he was suspended from his participation, like other cyclists (such as Ivan Basso); the reason for the exclusion of him by the organization of the gala round was due to his possible involvement in Operation Puerto, a fact not proven at that time. Ullrich maintained that he had nothing to do with Dr. Fuentes.
On July 20, 2006, Ullrich was fired from his team, T-Mobile. The general manager of the formation, Olaf Ludwig, made it public during the 18th stage of the Tour, between Morzine and Mâcon. Ullrich stated that the dismissal was "unacceptable", and declared the following: "I am very disappointed that this decision was not communicated to me personally, but was faxed to my lawyers. I find it embarrassing that after so many years of good cooperation and after everything I've done for the team, I'm being treated like a fax number».
On 3 August 2006, doping expert Werner Franke claimed that Ullrich spent €35,000 worth of doping products per year, based on the secret Operation Port documents. A gag order was imposed by a German court Franke after discovering that there was insufficient evidence to link Ullrich to doping. On September 14, 2006, German police entered Ullrich's home and collected DNA material while Ullrich was on his honeymoon with his wife. Sarah.
On October 18, 2006, Ullrich terminated his employment relationship with his personal physiotherapist Birgit Krohme. This fact increased speculation as to whether Ullrich had abandoned his hopes of returning to competition. Ullrich denied these rumors. On October 25, 2006, a document from the Spanish court in charge of Operation Puerto shown on his personal website indicated that no charges were filed against the cyclist by the Spanish Justice.
On Monday, February 26, 2007, Ullrich retired. At the press conference held in Hamburg, he stated: «Today I end my career as a professional cyclist. I never cheated as a cyclist». He said that he would work as an adviser to Team Volksbank.
Late Penalty
On April 4, 2007, it was made public that the DNA sample (acquired by police during their house search months earlier) had been proven "without any doubt" to be identical to nine seized bags of blood in the office of Eufemiano Fuentes during Operation Puerto. These bags had the code names "number 1", "Jan" or "son of Rudicio".
On February 9, 2012, the TAS (Tribunal de Arbitraje Deportivo) rejected the request of the UCI to withdraw the German's sports license for life for his doping case in Operation Puerto, considering that the positive of Ullrich in 2002 was due to the consumption of amphetamines, but he did impose a 2-year sanction, from May 2005 to May 2007, for which all the results achieved in that time interval were annulled. Said sanction implied, among others, that Francisco Mancebo climbed to the podium of the Tour de France 2005, and that Koldo Gil won the Tour of Switzerland in 2006, despite the fact that they were also involved in said doping plot. The German received the same sanction as Alberto Contador from La Pinta, sanctioned shortly before, with the difference that Ullrich had been retired from professional cycling for 5 years.
On July 24, 2013, his name appeared in the report published by the French Senate as one of thirty cyclists who would have retrospectively tested positive in the 1998 Tour de France, since they analyzed urine samples from that year with current anti-doping methods.
Ullrich Bicycles
In May 2006, he launched the bikes in the Jan Ullrich Collection, which he helped develop. The three bike models were named after Ullrich's career.
Private life
Jan Ullrich lived in Merdingen (Germany) from 1994 to 2002 with his partner Gaby Wiss, with whom he had a daughter, Sarah Maria, on July 1, 2003. They moved to Scherzingen (Switzerland) in 2002. After separating in 2005, possibly due to Wiss's refusal to be targeted by the press due to Ullrich's troubled life as a celebrity, he continued to live in Scherzingen. Gaby Wiss returned with Sarah Maria to Merdingen. In September 2006, Ullrich married Sara Steinhauser, sister of his former teammate and coach, Tobias Steinhauser. His first child, Max, was born five weeks early on August 7, 2007. In 2018 he separated from Sara, and she left home taking their 3 children with her.
He continued to participate, well into his 40s, in cycling tours and events for veterans.
However, since the separation from his second wife, Ullrich has been involved in several incidents with which he has left a bad public image. In 2014 he had already been arrested for drunk driving and causing an accident with two injuries, but The events with the greatest repercussion occurred in August 2018, when he was arrested for entering the house of his former neighbor, the German actor Til Schweiger, whom he allegedly threatened. In the newspaper Bild he acknowledged that he was not having a good time after the separation from his partner and children and that this has led him to "do things he regrets" 34;.
On August 10, 2018, less than a week after the altercation with Schweiger, Ullrich was arrested again, this time for assaulting an escort at a luxury hotel in Frankfurt. The prosecution considered that there were no grounds for ask for his entry into prison, for which his release was ordered. However, given the state of the former cyclist, his admission to a psychiatric unit was ordered right after this event. He left shortly after and began detoxification therapy in the middle of which he stated that he felt " much better".
In October 2018, after detoxification in a specialized center in Miami, Ullrich published a letter in the German newspaper Bild in which he acknowledged that he is ill and that he is going to fight to get out of that situation., and he also apologized to all the people he hurt with his behavior.
In early 2020, Jan's brother Thomas commented that the former Tour 97 champion is feeling much better and has gotten back on his bike to train with a small group of riders.
A few months later, her former director, Rudy Pevenage, confirmed that after two hard years of rehab, Jan Ullrich is clean and drug and alcohol free.
Honours of Prizes
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
| 2001
2003
2004
2005
|
Results
During his sports career he has achieved the following positions in the Grand Tours, World Championships and Olympic Games.
Grand Tours and World Championships
| Race | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro de Italia | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 52. | - | - | - | - | ||
| Tour de France | - | - | 2. | 1.o | 2. | - | 2. | 2. | - | 2. | 4.o | - | ||
| Return to Spain | - | Ab. | - | - | - | 1.o | Ab. | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
 World on Route
| - | - | - | - | - | 8. | - | 13. | - | - | - | - | - | |
 Global Contrary
| 3.o | - | - | - | - | 1.o | - | 1.o | - | - | - | - | - | |
—: does not participate
Ab.: abandonment
Olympic Games
| Race | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 JJ. OO. (Ruta) | X | X | - | X | X | X | 1.o | X | X | X | 19. | X | X | |
| JJ. OO. (CRI) | X | X | - | X | X | X | 2. | X | X | X | 7. | X | X | |
—: does not participate
Ab.: abandonment
X: Not disputed
Awards and recognitions
- Golden Bike (1997)
- 2.o en la Bicicleta de Oro (1999)
- 3.o en la Bicicleta de Oro (2000)
Teams
Telekom (1994-2002)
- Telekom-Eddy Merckx (Amateur) (1994)
- Team Deutsche Telekom (1995-2001)
- Team Telekom (2002)
- Coast/Bianchi (2003)
- Team Coast (up to May 2003)
- Team Bianchi (as of May 2003)
- T-Mobile (2004-2006)
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