Jan Ullrich. Photo: Alex Grimm, Bongarts/Getty Images
Jan Ullrich has admitted for the first time that he received blood-doping treatment from doctor Eufemiano Fuentes during his career.
Ullrich had previously acknowledged having unspecified “contact” with Fuentes, but went further in an interview with the weekly Focus.
“Yes, I received treatment from Fuentes,” the retired German rider was quoted as saying.
Asked if he engaged only in blood doping with Fuentes, Ullrich replied that “the doctor’s diagnosis says that.” He said he couldn’t remember how many times he had received treatment from Fuentes.
In February 2012, the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned Ullrich for two years for blood doping.
The CAS ruled that the German was “fully engaged” in Fuentes’ doping program, exposed in the Operation Puerto probe. The court stripped him of his third-place finish at the 2005 Tour.
Ullrich retired from racing in 2007.
Ullrich didn’t contest the CAS ruling, saying at the time that he wanted to “put an end to the issue.”
IOC vice-president Thomas Bach, who also heads Germany’s national Olympic committee, said the confession is “too little, too late.”
“Jan Ullrich had his chance for a creditable admission a couple of years ago and he missed it,” Bach said in an emailed statement. “Today’s confirmation of some of the already well known and established facts does not help Jan Ullrich nor cycling.” – Postmedia News
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