“Cocaine and whiskey galore”
Jan Ullrich describes his heavy drug use
7/18/2023 1:43 p.m
Jan Ullrich appeared in public as a cycling star in the 1990s, but allegations of doping accompanied large parts of his dazzling career. After the end, Ullrich continues to make headlines – with crashes and escapades. In a documentary trailer he gives insights.
Jan Ullrich has again indicated a comprehensive doping confession. “It was wrong that I didn’t cheat on anyone. For me it was tailored to my opponents, but of course the fans are also part of it,” said the 49-year-old in a promotional clip for the Amazon documentary “Jan Ullrich – The Hunted”. As early as September 2022, the 1997 Tour de France winner said he wanted to tell his story in the series, “the whole story”. Ullrich had often denied doping allegations with the sentence: “I have never cheated on anyone.”
According to Amazon, the series, which will be released on November 28, wants to take a “critical look at the career, the successes, the crashes and the personality” of the Rostock native in four episodes. “It was really shit for me too, I took cocaine in bulk, I drank whiskey like water, until shortly before Exitus,” said Ullrich. “20 years later you recognize the mistakes you made.”
In the series not only his great rival Lance Armstrong has his say, but also the Spanish doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. “They asked me for the miracle formula to become a winner,” said Fuentes. Who this refers to is stated in the 57-second clip not clear.
With his Tour victory, Ullrich triggered a cycling boom in Germany. In 2006, just before the start of the Tour of France, the Sydney Olympic champion was suspended by his team because he had ties to Fuentes. During a raid, blood bags with the inscription “Jan” and “Rudi’s son” were found at the gynecologist’s. Rudi Pevenage, the mentor of the two-time time trial world champion, later admitted contact with Fuentes, as did Ullrich.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS banned Ullrich for two years in 2012 and denied him the overall victory in the 2006 Tour de Suisse as well as the stage successes in the 2006 Giro d’Italia, the 2005 Deutschland Tour and the 2005 and 2006 Tour de Suisse. Between 2010 and in 2020 Ullrich made many negative headlines privately. Today he lives again in Merdingen in southern Baden.