Jan Ullrich is glad that he has become more open about his doping past in recent years. A burden has been lifted from his shoulders since then, the German said in an interview.
Ullrich won the Tour de France in 1997, but was never able to repeat that success. In 2006, he was banned from the Tour de France at the last minute due to his involvement in Operacion Puerto and was subsequently given a doping ban. In 2013, Ullrich admitted to having used doping, but he has provided few details in the years that followed. However, he has spoken more about his doping past in the documentary series Jan Ullrich – The Hunted (2023) and several recent interviews.
“I am glad I did that, now I can continue with my work more easily,” Ullrich says. “There was so much speculation. I had to change something in my life, so I decided to talk about it. It was good for me. The burden has become lighter. The documentary worked for me as a kind of therapy. Now I can talk about it with my children.”
People now understand that ‘doping was something systematic’, says Ullrich.
“The sponsors knew everything. I can’t say that they kept quiet about it, but they paid me well. It was a mutual agreement not to talk about it.”
Ullrich was a professional from 1995 to 2006. He rode for Team Telekom, later the T-Mobile Team, for almost his entire career. In 2003 he rode for Team Coast/Team Bianchi for one season.
