Jan Ullrich has said he is now sober and healthy but only after he "nearly died like Marco Pantanti", the Italian pro rider who died in 2004 due to cocaine use.
Ullrich has been speaking publicly about his life and his recovery since his arrests in Majorca and Germany three years ago having spiraled into a drink and drug problem.
The German won the Tour de France in 1997 and the Vuelta in 1999. He also won gold in the road race and silver in the time trial at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. While he later admitted to doping, only the results for his final two years as a cyclist – 2005 and 2006 – were stripped from his palmares.
He met with Lance Armstrong in Majorca over the weekend where Armstrong was running a cycling holiday camp and also broadcasting his podcast covering the Worlds in Belgium. Ullrich joined Armstrong, George Hincapie and Johan Bruyneel on the podcast.
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“You know my story, three years ago I had big problems. And you come and visit me. I was so happy you come," he said of Armstrong going to see him in Germany in August, 2018.
“And, yeah, I was in the same way of Marco Pantani; nearly dead. And then I recovered and I have good friends; you two and Johan you,” he said in reference to Armstrong, Hincapie and Bruyneel. “And other friends also helped bring me back into life and now I’m very happy.”
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Ullrich added that when Armstrong and his team suggested they meet up in Majorca he decided he wouldn’t go cycling with them as he wasn’t fit. However, he has since been training for about five weeks and said he felt good.
“God gave me this body, God gave me this talent. I’m
nothing or full gas. I have my coach for my back muscles. I train every
day good and drink water. I stop alcohol and drugs three years ago. I live very
healthy, my girlfriend cooking very healthy for me.
“And this all together brings me to a good shape and a
good feeling. I have good friends and a good team at home. I’m not alone and that’s
important. I needed help and now I have the help.
“I forget for a long time what is good for me. There was
a lot of bullshit. All I remembered (was) 20 years ago, or 15 years ago. Then I
forgot what is good for me. Cycling is good. Hanging out with friends, love, my
kids, my family. All this… I forget this. That was my problem.”
Armstrong told Ullrich they had both come through cycling at “a crazy time, a fucked up time” and they had “navigated” that in their different ways. But they were now healthy; a reference to their drug taking through their careers and their downfall.
Armstrong and Bruyneel are banned from cycling for life and Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour wins; all as a result of the findings of the World Anti Doping Agency investigation. Hincapie received a much shorter ban, after agreeing to give evidence to investigators. He was also stripped of his results for a period between 2004 and 2006.
Nine years ago Ullrich was found guilty of a doping offence by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and was stripped of his results for 2005 and 2006. He has also had a series of personal problems, which Armstrong has apparently helped him overcome.
In 2018 Ullrich was arrested by the Spanish and German police after allegations were made against him by two people. A neighbour in Mallorca and a woman in a hotel in Germany accused him of assault.
It then emerged Ullrich had a drink and drug problem. In
2019 he was fined for the assault on the woman, who worked for an escort
agency, though she declined to bring and further legal action against him.
