Ullrich Announces Retirement

HAMBURG, Germany, Feb 26, 2007 (AFP) – German cycling star Jan Ullrich, a former winner and five-time runner-up of the Tour de France, announced his retirement from cycling here Monday.

Ullrich was one of dozens of cyclists implicated in an alleged doping network in Spain last year, which forced him out of competing in last year’s Tour de France along with many other top cyclists.

The 33-year-old, Germany’s only winner of the world’s most prestigious bike race, in 1997, claimed Monday he never once cheated in his career.

“Today I’m ending my career as a professional cyclist. I never once cheated as a cyclist,” said Ullrich, who spent the latter stages of his career being dominated by American rival Lance Armstrong.

“I still don’t understand why I was not allowed to compete in the Tour last year.”

After being implicated in an alleged doping scandal, dubbed ‘Operation Puerto’, last year, notably alongside Italian star Ivan Basso, Ullrich was eventually sacked by his T-Mobile team during the race.

The team said at the time that damaging evidence from Spanish investigators in Madrid prompted the decision to drop their star rider.

Ullrich said he never recovered from not being allowed to race the Tour last year.

“My life as a cyclist collapsed that day,” added Ullrich, who went on to criticise the people who he said “condemned him before being properly judged”.

“I’ve been painted as a criminal while I’ve done nothing wrong.”

In recent months, none of the riders linked to Operation Puerto – launched to weed out an alleged doping and blood doping network being run by a Spanish doctor, Eufemiano Fuentes – have been sanctioned.

While Basso went on to be cleared of all wrongdoing by the Italian authorities, and has since signed for the Discovery Channel team, Ullrich fared less well in his search to resurrect his career.

The Switzerland-based German was first pursued by the Swiss federation over his alleged involvement in the affair, and more recently has been charged with sports fraud by prosecutors in Bonn.

Ullrich has always denied knowing Fuentes, who is set to stand trial in Spain this summer.

“At the start of this whole affair (Operation Puerto) it was difficult to take, now it’s just sad,” said Ullrich.

Since the affair erupted Ullrich has not been short of detractors in his native Germany.

The German took the opportunity to hit back, aiming fire at Germany’s former Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping, who has since become the president of the German cycling federation (BDR).

“Cycling doesn’t benefit from men like him,” said Ullrich.

For many years Ullrich was one of Germany’s biggest and most popular sports personalities, his feats easily eclipsing the Formula One achievements of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.

But after returning to the Tour de France in 2000, having decided to race the Tour of Spain, which he won, in 1999, the German was faced with a new, and more determined rival in Armstrong.

Despite unquestionable individual talents which saw him win an Olympic road race crown and two world time trial titles, Ullrich and his various teams struggled to challenge the American, who, having conquered cancer, went on to win the race for the next seven years.

Ullrich came closest to winning the yellow jersey again in 2003 when he raced for the Team Bianchi outfit finishing just over a minute behind Armstrong.

In subsequent years he finished fourth (2004) and third (2005).