It was a worrying and somewhat strange story that was sent out into the world 10 days ago.
When Jan Ullrich returned from a trip to Cuba in mid-December, the plane had to make a stopover because the German was not feeling well.
Ullrich was admitted to a hospital in Mexico. “Because he has relapsed into his alcohol and drug addiction,” Bild said as the reason.
In a conversation with the German newspaper, Ullrich now nuances that story. “It is true that I was admitted to a hospital. I had a thrombosis and a very severe blood poisoning. But I am not addicted again.”
“At the beginning of the treatment I underwent a drug test, which was of course negative,” says the German.
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At the end of September, Ullrich told his former rival Lance Armstrong’s podcast that he has already escaped death once due to alcohol and drug addiction.
“You know my story, 3 years ago I was really bad. I went the same way as Marco Pantani. I almost died. In Mexico I escaped death again.”
Armstrong paid Ullrich a few visits while he was hospitalized in Mexico. “He was the first person who came to see me in the hospital. He helped me a lot. I want to thank him for that.”
Ullrich also mentioned that he is struggling with back problems. “Three or four intervertebral discs have completely collapsed. I am now only 1m81 tall, I used to be 1m83.”
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Jan Ullrich was a professional cyclist from 1995 to 2006. In 1997 he achieved his greatest triumph with the overall victory in the Tour de France. Ullrich was 23 at the time.
Later, the German often collided with Lance Armstrong in the Tour. In total he finished second in the final standings no less than 5 times.
In addition to his Tour victory, Ullrich also became world time trial champion twice and became Olympic road champion in 2000. He also won the Vuelta once.
Things went wrong in the last years of his career. Ullrich became involved with the controversial sports doctor Fuentes and was found guilty of blood doping. Later he became addicted to drugs and alcohol.
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