Ullrich on documentary: "Making peace with the past"
DPA
· 07.09.2023
For the former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich (49), his Amazon documentation a huge piece of coming to terms with the past.
Jan Ullrich comments on Amazon documentary
"With the documentary and by coming to terms with my life, my past, I feel much better, much easier. I have been able to throw off my rucksack and have made peace with my past," said Ullrich in Munich.
It was his first public appearance in a long time. "I'm a bit nervous," he admitted at the screening of "Jan Ullrich - The Hunted". The documentary can be seen from 28 November.
Jan Ullrich wants to make peace with the past
Ullrich wants to be "open and honest about everything" in the documentary. "The aim was to make peace with my past so that it can no longer catch up with me, to find my middle way, to deal with it openly and intensively," he said.
Ullrich triggered a cycling boom in Germany with his Tour victory in 1997. In 2006, the Sydney Olympic champion was suspended by his team shortly before the start of the Tour of France because he had links to doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.
Comprehensive doping confession
The International Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) banned Ullrich for two years in 2012 and stripped him of his overall victory at the 2006 Tour de Suisse as well as his stage wins at the 2006 Giro d'Italia, the 2005 Tour of Germany and the 2005 and 2006 Tour de Suisse. Between 2010 and 2020, Ullrich made many negative headlines in his private life.
Ullrich had often denied doping allegations with the sentence: "I have never cheated on anyone." In the meantime, however, he has hinted at a comprehensive doping confession. "That I never cheated anyone was wrong. I was focussed on my opponents, but of course the fans are also part of it," he admitted in the documentary.
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