Story highlights
- German Jan Ullrich admits to doping
- He was booted from his team in 2006 amid doping allegations
- He was a rival of Lance Armstrong
Jan Ullrich, who won the 1997 Tour de France, admitted to doping for the first time in an interview with a German magazine.
Ullrich, a top rider during his career, was suspended before the 2006 Tour de France amid doping allegations and subsequently booted from his team.
But it is only now that Ullrich admitted to having received blood-doping treatment from Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes during his cycling career.
"Yes, I have used Fuentes treatment," the German told FOCUS magazine, which published the interview Saturday.
Ullrich, a long-time rival of disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, was also sanctioned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, an international body, for his involvement in a blood-doping ring uncovered by Spanish police in 2006.
Even though he was an Armstrong rival, when allegations of doping against the American cyclist first surfaced, Ullrich did not jump to judgment, saying he did not want to make any "hasty conclusions."
