Jan Ullrich (; born 2 December 1973) is a German former professional road bicycle racer. Ullrich won gold and silver medals in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He won the 1999 Vuelta a España and the HEW Cyclassics in front of a home crowd in Hamburg in 1997. He had podium finishes in the hilly classic Clásica de San Sebastián. His victorious ride in the 1997 Tour de France led to a bicycle boom in Germany. He retired in February 2007.
In 2006, Ullrich was barred from the Tour de France amid speculation of having doped. In February 2012, Ullrich was found guilty of a doping offence by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. He was retroactively banned from 22 August 2011, and all results gained since May 2005 were removed from his palmarès. In 2013 he admitted to blood doping, and in 2023 to using performance enhancing substances.
Biography
Early life and amateur career At a young age, Ullrich joined SG Dynamo Rostock (de) in his hometown. He won his first bicycle race at the age of nine while riding in sports shoes and on a rented bicycle. He was educated in the sports training system of the German Democratic Republic, attending the KJS sports school in Berlin in 1986. In 1988, he was champion of the German Democratic Republic. The school closed two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He, his trainer Peter Sager, and teammates joined an amateur club in Hamburg until 1994. In 1991, he was 5th in the amateur cyclo-cross world championships.
In 1993, aged 19, Ullrich won the amateur road title at the UCI Road World Championships in Oslo, as Lance Armstrong won the professional championship. The following year, he finished third behind Chris Boardman and Andrea Chiurato in the world time trial championship in Sicily.
Early professional career In 1995, Ullrich turned professional for the Telekom team under Walter Godefroot.
Ullrich was inconspicuous in his first 18 months as a professional. In 1995, he became national time trial champion. He also achieved top ten placings on stages of the 1995 Tour de Suisse. At 21, he wanted to start the 1995 Tour de France but Godefroot thought it was too early. Instead, he went to the small German stage race, the Hofbräu Cup, where he ended third. Ullrich started the 1995 Vuelta a España later that year only to abandon on stage 12.
1996 Tour de France Ullrich gave up a place in the 1996 German Olympic team to ride his first Tour. He finished the prologue 33 seconds down. He stayed within the top 20 until the mountains on stage 7 when Miguel Induráin cracked. Ullrich finished 30 seconds back, 22 behind his teammate Bjarne Riis while Indurain finished four minutes down. On the following stage, he finished in the same group as Indurain, 40 seconds behind Riis. On stage 9, Riis rode into the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification while Ullrich finished 44 seconds back and also in 5th place overall, 1-minute 38 seconds from Riis.
Over the final mountains, Ullrich rode into second place behind Riis, but he conceded time on each mountain stage, eventually being nearly four minutes behind Riis. He won the final individual time trial and secured his first Tour stage win. He cut 2 minutes 18 seconds into Riis's lead. This led Indurain to comment that Ullrich would win the Tour someday, adding that it was a remarkable victory considering that Ullrich had been helping Riis. Ullrich dismissed suggestions he would have done better if he had not had to help Riis, saying Riis had inspired the team. Jan finished his first tour in second place at 1-minute 41 seconds from his teammate Bjarne Riis.
1997 Tour de France
Ullrich had 2 wins before the 1997 Tour: a stage in the Tour de Suisse and the national Road Race championship a week before the tour. He became the favourite in the 1997 Tour de France. He started strongly, finishing second in the prologue behind Chris Boardman. On stage 9, the first mountain stage, which was won by Laurent Brochard, Ullrich worked for Riis. Only on the last ascent, when Richard Virenque attacked, did Ullrich react. Riis struggled to keep up and finished 30 seconds behind Virenque, Marco Pantani and Ullrich. On stage 10 from Luchon to Andorra Arcalis, with Riis again falling back, Ullrich dropped back to the team car to ask permission to attack. He returned to the lead group and pushed up the climb, leaving Pantani and Virenque. He finished a minute ahead, which earned his first yellow jersey as leader of the general classification. L'Équipe, greeted Ullrich with Voilà le Patron ("Here is the boss"). Ullrich won the Stage 12 time trial with three minutes between himself and the second-placed rider, Virenque, who had started three minutes in front of him.
Marco Pantani attacked on the stage to the Alpe d'Huez. Ullrich, who was nine minutes ahead of Pantani overall, limited his losses to 47 seconds. Pantani attacked again on the Morzine stage and won, while Ullrich again limited his losses. In the final time trial, won by Abraham Olano, Ullrich extended his lead over Virenque and the following day became the first German to win the Tour de France. At 23, Ullrich was the fourth youngest winner of the Tour since 1947. Two weeks later, he won the Hews Cycling Classic in Hamburg. A further two weeks later, Ullrich was beaten by Davide Rebellin in a sprint in the GP Suisse. He was chosen "sports person of the year" in Germany in 1997.
1998 Tour de France Ullrich was the defending champion in 1998. He took the lead in the general classification on stage 7, a time trial, over 58 km of undulating roads. However, on stage 15, Marco Pantani blew the Tour apart with a victory which began on the Galibier. Ullrich was without support when Pantani attacked. Pantani topped the Galibier alone. It was misty and the roads were wet. The descent was dangerous and Pantani increased his lead. By the bottom of the final climb, Les Deux Alpes, Pantani had nearly four minutes. Telekom brought Udo Bölts and then Riis to pace Ullrich. Pantani was the race leader as he crossed the line. Ullrich finished almost nine minutes back, dropping to fourth position, six minutes behind Pantani.
Ullrich attacked on stage 16 on the Col de la Madeleine. Only Pantani could match him. Over the top, they started to work together. Ullrich won a photo-finish sprint and moved into third. He won the final stage, a 20 km time trial, and moved into second.
The Tour of 1998 was haunted by doping affairs, giving it the nickname "Tour de Dopage."
In the following year, during the inaugural Deutschland Tour, Ullrich fell after getting entangled with Udo Bölts during stage 3. He had a knee injury and could not ride the 1999 Tour, which ended in the first of seven 'victories' for Lance Armstrong. Ullrich set his targets on the world time trial championship in October by riding the Vuelta.
1999 Vuelta a España On the first mountain stage, Ullrich narrowly won against the defending Vuelta a España champion Abraham Olano of Team ONCE in a group sprint that included Frank Vandenbroucke, Roberto Heras and Davide Rebellin. Olano took the leader's golden jersey with Ullrich second. Olano won the following stage, a time trial, with almost one minute over Ullrich and increased his lead in stage 8. On stage 11, Ullrich gained 30 seconds back on Olano. Ullrich took the lead on stage 12 won by Igor González de Galdeano, Olano faltered due to a broken rib and finished seven minutes behind Ullrich. He later abandoned the race.
Gonzales de Galdeano had moved into second overall and became a threat to Ullrich. On stage 18, Banesto and other Spanish teams tried to crack Ullrich, who struggled on the final climb but recovered to limit his losses to González. In the final time trial, Ullrich won by almost three minutes and built his overall lead to four minutes on González. Ullrich won his second major Tour. Several weeks later, he became world time trial champion over Sweden's Michael Andersson and Briton Chris Boardman.
'Eternal second' behind Armstrong
2000–2002 Tours The 2000 Tour de France brought Ullrich, Marco Pantani and Armstrong against each other for the first time. Armstrong proved too strong and won then and again in 2001. Ullrich crashed during a descent in 2001 and Armstrong waited for him to return to his bike. Ullrich cited his failure to defeat Armstrong as why he fell into depression the following year.
Ullrich rode well in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. After establishing a three-man break with Telekom teammates Andreas Klöden and Alexander Vinokourov, Ullrich won the gold with Vinokourov second and Klöden rounding out the all-Telekom podium. He won the silver in the time-trial, losing by only seven seconds to Viatcheslav Ekimov but beating Armstrong soundly into third.
In May 2002, Ullrich had his driver's license revoked after a drunk driving incident. After a positive blood sample for amphetamine in June 2002, Ullrich's contract with Team Telekom was ended, and he was banned for six months. He said he had taken ecstasy with amphetamine. He had not been racing since January due to a knee injury, and the German Cycling Federation's disciplinary committee agreed that he was not attempting to use the drug for performance enhancement, so he was given a minimum suspension.
Following a disappointing 2002 season, Ullrich was looking for a new team, with interest coming from , , and .
2003 Tour and sportsmanship On 13 January 2003, Ullrich, along with his advisor Rudy Pevenage, joined Team Coast on a multi-million Euro deal. Financial problems at the team were known from the beginning of the season. These led to the Coast team folding in May 2003. Ullrich moved on to the newly founded Team Bianchi, set up from the remainders of Coast by Jacques Hanegraaf, a former cyclist at Team Telekom.
The 2003 Tour de France was the first in many years that Ullrich had not been considered a favourite. In the first week, Ullrich became sick and almost retired. He lost a minute and a half on Armstrong in the Alps. Ullrich fought back in the time trial. Armstrong had trouble with the heat and lost one and a half minutes to Ullrich. Ullrich was within a minute of Armstrong in the classification. The next day, he closed the gap by another 19 seconds in the first mountain stage. Two days later, Ullrich rode away from Armstrong on the Tourmalet, but Armstrong caught up. Halfway into the next climb, Luz Ardiden, Armstrong's handlebars got caught in a spectator's yellow musette waving in the air, and he fell. Ullrich waited for Armstrong to recover, returning the courteous display by Armstrong 2 years previously. Armstrong then caught the group and attacked shortly afterwards.
Ullrich lost 40 seconds in the final kilometres, but the final time trial would be decisive. In it, Ullrich crashed and saw a stage and Tour victory disappear. He finished second, by 71 seconds.
For waiting on Armstrong after his fall during the stage to Luz Ardiden, the German Olympic Association (Deutsche Olympische Gesellschaft) gave Ullrich their fair-play medal. Commenting on Ullrich's wait for Armstrong to recover, Dan Boyle, of the Institute for International Sport said "It was an act that will live with him forever, cynics will say he lost money, but it was a highly commendable thing that he did."
2004 and 2005 Tour
For 2004, Ullrich returned to Team Telekom, now named T-Mobile. He won the Tour de Suisse, beating Swiss Fabian Jeker by one second overall. In the Tour de France, he finished fourth, 8:50 behind Armstrong, his first finish lower than second. Klöden finished second and Ivan Basso third.
For 2005, Ullrich again captained T-Mobile. He maintained a low profile for the early season, surfacing in the 2005 Tour de Suisse, which he finished third behind Aitor González and Michael Rogers.