It’s been 25 years since Jan Ullrich triggered a cycling boom in Germany. He wins the Tour de France and becomes a pop star on two wheels. Until the deep fall comes.
A bike tour with children from the region, plus one or two units on his racing machine in the vineyards and of course a look at what’s currently happening at the Tour de France on TV.
Jan Ullrich is all about cycling these days. “A lot of emotions” are awakened in the former German cycling star, especially when his legendary trip to the yellow jersey marks the 25th anniversary on Friday.
“This will always be one of my most beautiful memories, which I will never forget!”, Ullrich writes in an open letter that appeared in the “Bild” newspaper. He has received many personal messages from fans these days. “There were also some who, like me, had a very eventful life story or difficult phases in life, and many parallels in your stories were clearly recognizable with my own. That touched me very much, »says Ullrich.
Beginning of an «moving» journey
The beginning of this “moving” journey took place on July 15, 1997 in Andorra-Arcalis, when a likeable boy from Rostock with reddish blonde hair and freckles on his face stormed up the steep ramps and grabbed the yellow jersey. Cycling Germany is upside down, “Voilà le Patron”, headlines the tour organ “L’Équipe”.
In the Telekom team, he is actually just the crown prince of defending champion Bjarne Riis. But Ullrich is stronger, and when the Dane gives him the “go”, there is no stopping him. “Those were the most beautiful moments in my life as a sports director,” says his former mentor Rudy Pevenage of the German Press Agency in retrospect. “You come back to another life. He was in demand everywhere. That changed Jan’s life. The calm was gone. It was amazing.”
Germany in cycling fever
Suddenly Germany is in cycling fever. Every year in July, millions of people gather in front of the television and suffer for hours with Ullrich as they climb the mountain giants in the Alps and the Pyrenees. Ullrich is everyone’s darling, the pop star on two wheels. The buddy type who likes to go over the top in winter and carries around a few extra pounds.
His talent on the bike is almost unique. Ullrich becomes Olympic champion, world champion, German champion. But he won’t win the tour again, although experts like Eddy Merckx predict five or more victories for him. A certain Lance Armstrong stands in his way. “I think that Jan was stronger than Armstrong in terms of his sporting potential,” says Pevenage. ‘Well, Armstrong had another character too. He focused on cycling for the whole twelve months.”
And it is Ullrich who drives Armstrong to peak performance. “He had so much talent. He scared me. This man let me get up early, he let me go to bed early, »said Armstrong in the ARD documentary «Being Jan Ullrich». The Texan, who was obsessed and cured of cancer, wins the Tour of France seven times – with illegal means, as it later turns out. For Ullrich there is often only second place. This doesn’t change anything about its popularity.
Operacion Puerto exposed Ullrich
When Armstrong quits, Ullrich wants to be on the tour throne again in 2006. A final attack for the great goal. It remains an unfulfilled wish. In Spain, the Radstar was exposed at the large-scale Operacion Puerto as a customer of the doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. Ullrich is taken out of the starting field before the tour, his T-Mobile team draws a quick line. The tragic turning point in Ullrich’s life.
Extensive investigations by the public prosecutor’s office in Bonn follow. His career ended in one fell swoop, and Ullrich will never get on his bike again as a professional athlete. However, it was only banned in 2012 by the International Court of Arbitration for Sports Cas.
Ullrich also delivers negative headlines privately. Like in 2014, when he rammed two cars in Switzerland with a blood alcohol level of 1.8 at a significantly higher speed. Ullrich gets away with a suspended sentence.
Scandal follows scandal
Ullrich moves to Mallorca with his wife and children, but the marriage breaks up after 13 years. The Radstar remains alone in Mallorca. A shocking video is doing the rounds. In the course of a dispute on the neighboring property of TV star Til Schweiger, he was temporarily taken into police custody. Ullrich comes back to Germany, where the next scandal occurs. In a luxury hotel in Frankfurt, there is a physical altercation with an escort lady.
Ullrich is under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Eventually, he was admitted to a psychiatric ward. Ullrich is at the bottom until his old rival Armstrong suddenly shows up. “It was scary for me. I saw a man in a place like no human being had before. (…) I had never seen anyone in such a condition, »said Armstrong. Ullrich recovers and later reports in Armstrong’s podcast: “I was on the way from Marco Pantani. Almost dead.”
In the meantime, Ullrich, who is now 48, lives again in the seclusion of Merdingen, close to his four children. There are plans for a bike center, including with his friend and business partner Mike Baldinger. Possibly a new mainstay for Ullrich, who avoids public appearances. He would not get it on the tour anyway, Ullrich is not a welcome guest because of his doping past.
Nevertheless, Pevenage says: «I just hope that Jan will show himself a lot more in public in the next few months. In the end he did nothing. Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain – all the people want to see Jan Ullrich.” And preferably like that summer day in Andorra-Arcalis.