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Ex-Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich "in despair" and looking to enter rehabJan Ullrich riding for T-Mobile (picture credit Heidas:Wikimedia Commons).jpg

Ex-Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich "in despair" and looking to enter rehab

44-year-old says separation from his wife and children has led him to "do and take things I very much regret"...
by Simon_MacMichael
Tue, Aug 07, 2018 12:35
9

1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich, who was arrested in Mallorca on Friday evening after reportedly jumping over a neighbour’s fence, has said that separation from his wife and children has “thrown me into the deepest despair” and that he is undergoing treatment for addiction.

On Saturday, a court in Palma issued a restraining order against the German ex-pro cyclist who was alleged to have entered the property of his compatriot, the actor and film director Til Schweiger, uninvited, with a “brawl” between the pair ensuing.

> Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich arrested after "brawl" with neighbour in Mallorca

Putting his side of the story to the magazine Bild, Ullrich said: “I rang the bell but since no-one answered, I decided to go in. There was a friend of Til there who lost control and who tried to give me a Kung Fu-style kick that I managed to evade, then the police arrived.”

https://www.bild.de/suche.bild.html?query=Jan+Ullrich

Schweiger told Bild that he and Ullrich had previously been close but their relationship had deteriorated after the break-up of the latter’s marriage.

He said that Ullrich “had almost become a family member but when his wife left him he started taking amphetamines: he would only sleep for two hours.

“He’d start drinking beer at 6am and went on like that until the evening. He also told me that he had a prescription for cocaine."

Ullrich’s lawyer, Wolfgang Hoppe, has said that his client is waiting for a place in a rehabilitation clinic.

Aged 44, Ullrich retired in 2007 after a career that saw him win the Tour de France in 1997 – he was also runner-up in the race five times – the gold medal in the road race at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 and two world time trial championships.

He was banned twice for doping, the first time in 2002 when he tested positive for amphetamines.

On that occasion he was handed a minimal six-month suspension since the German federation ruled he had used the drug for recreational purposes rather to enhance performance.

Last year, a court in Switzerland fined him and gave him a 21-month suspended prison sentence for drink-driving and speeding.

Twice married, Ullrich told Bild about the effect that the break-up of his latest marriage is having on him.

"The separation from my wife Sara, and consequently from my children, has thrown me into the deepest despair,” he said.

“I haven’t seen my boys since Christmas, and we also find it difficult to speak to each other.

“This extreme situation has made me do and take things that I very much regret.”

He added: “For my children’s sake, I’m undergoing therapy. I became agoraphobic. I couldn’t sleep.

“This has been one of the toughest episodes of my life.”

Jan Ullrich
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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9 comments

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Christopher TR1 | 6 years ago
0 likes

Dear Jan,

That's tough that your family life is in a mess. But look on the bright side: You have a villa in Mallorca, you don't have to waste your days in the office or factory and even your neightbour appears to have been your friend until you pissed him off.

Dust your bike off, go for a ride and swap the beers for coffee.

MFG

Avatar
don simon fbpe replied to Christopher TR1 | 6 years ago
1 like

Christopher TR1 wrote:

Dear Jan,

That's tough that your family life is in a mess. But look on the bright side: You have a villa in Mallorca, you don't have to waste your days in the office or factory and even your neightbour appears to have been your friend until you pissed him off.

Dust your bike off, go for a ride and swap the beers for coffee.

MFG

That's sorted the mental health problems of the world out. Do you think you sort out that bastard cancer next week?

Avatar
Christopher TR1 replied to don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
0 likes

don simon wrote:

Christopher TR1 wrote:

Dear Jan,

That's tough that your family life is in a mess. But look on the bright side: You have a villa in Mallorca, you don't have to waste your days in the office or factory and even your neightbour appears to have been your friend until you pissed him off.

Dust your bike off, go for a ride and swap the beers for coffee.

MFG

That's sorted the mental health problems of the world out. Do you think you sort out that bastard cancer next week?

Riding is the answer to a lot of things, but cancer might be pushing it a tad.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Christopher TR1 | 6 years ago
0 likes

Christopher TR1 wrote:

don simon wrote:

Christopher TR1 wrote:

Dear Jan,

That's tough that your family life is in a mess. But look on the bright side: You have a villa in Mallorca, you don't have to waste your days in the office or factory and even your neightbour appears to have been your friend until you pissed him off.

Dust your bike off, go for a ride and swap the beers for coffee.

MFG

That's sorted the mental health problems of the world out. Do you think you sort out that bastard cancer next week?

Riding is the answer to a lot of things, but cancer might be pushing it a tad.

According to this study, it almost halves your risk: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39641122

Avatar
don simon fbpe replied to hawkinspeter | 6 years ago
0 likes
hawkinspeter wrote:

Christopher TR1 wrote:

don simon wrote:

Christopher TR1 wrote:

Dear Jan,

That's tough that your family life is in a mess. But look on the bright side: You have a villa in Mallorca, you don't have to waste your days in the office or factory and even your neightbour appears to have been your friend until you pissed him off.

Dust your bike off, go for a ride and swap the beers for coffee.

MFG

That's sorted the mental health problems of the world out. Do you think you sort out that bastard cancer next week?

Riding is the answer to a lot of things, but cancer might be pushing it a tad.

According to this study, it almost halves your risk: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39641122

Interesting until we got to the cause/effect bit. I would thought that telling the guy to deal with the root cause of his problems and using cycling as an aid might be better than mtfu or look on the bright side and ride your bike, but I know nothing of these things.
Doesn't multi millionaire, successful wrestler/ actor The Rock suffer from mental health problems? Perhaps he should get a grip and go for a bike ride too...

Avatar
ktache | 6 years ago
1 like

He should not be drink driving whatever his emotional woes. 

Avatar
RTB | 6 years ago
3 likes

Very much a fragile human being behind whatever it was he did in the past.

Guy needs a break and I hope he gets it.

Avatar
jlebrech | 6 years ago
0 likes

He needs to stop getting married

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
3 likes

Guy sounds like a mess. Hope he can find his way out of it.

Get on yer bike son!

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