Jan Ullrich
The cycling legend makes serious accusations against his father
Jan Ullrich
© dpa / Sina Schuldt / Picture Alliance
As a child, Jan Ullrich is said to have experienced violence at the hands of his now deceased father. In his new book, he talks about the difficult relationship and painful moments that still resonate today.
Since then, things have been slowly improving. Ullrich has since come clean about his past in documentaries and interviews, admitting his downfalls and his doping. Now the final step: his new autobiography “Heaven, Hell – and Back to Life” is about his difficult childhood and his absent father.
Jan Ullrich only had ten father-son moments until he was six years old
When Jan Ullrich was six years old, his parents separated. There was little contact and then it almost completely broke off. Werner Ullrich died in 2014, but the scars remain – to this day. In the multi-part Amazon Prime documentary “Jan Ullrich – The Hunted” in June 2022, the former professional cyclist described how difficult the relationship between him and his father was. He is said to have had a problematic relationship with alcohol and to have given preferential treatment to Jan’s older brother Stefan.
Father-son moments together were few and far between. “There were maybe ten – […] until I was six,” Ullrich recalled in an interview with “Bild” at the end of 2023 and explained: “He had already [vor der Trennung der Eltern, Anmerkung der Redaktion] little time because he was working in construction and was hardly there.”
Violence in the children’s room: Ullrich shows his scar on his head
In the documentary “Jan Ullrich – The Hunted” he also described a violent scene: Ullrich wet the bed at night. His father then allegedly hit him. “I fell across the room straight into the closet wall,” said Jan Ullrich. He was left with a scar on his head.
In his new book “Heaven, Hell – and Back to Life”, which will be published on June 25th, Jan Ullrich examines the broken relationship with his now deceased father. He provides initial insights in a promo video that he published on his Instagram channel on Thursday, May 30th. In it, he describes another situation with his father “that still hurts today”.
“I was invisible to my father”
“One of my first memories […] is that we were having a picnic and my father came home from work on his motorbike and then waved to Stefan, my older brother, to come with him and I was left practically alone with my mother. And those were very often situations like that, which of course hurt,” says the 2010 Olympic champion. Then he continues: “That stays in the heart of a little boy. For my father, I was invisible and always wanted to be visible.”
From this he learned for himself “that you can also draw incredible motivation from a lack. This “invisibility” of his father drove Jan Ullrich to “really give it his all” in sport and thereby become visible.
Sources used: bild.de, “Jan Ullrich – The Hunted” , retrieved from amazon.de, instagram.com