Heroes need a worthy adversary who highlights their brilliance. Lance Armstrong’s greatest rival was Jan Ullrich, who won the 1997 Tour de France, was runner-up in 2000, ’01 and ’03, came fourth in ’04 and third in ’05.
So why hasn’t the German been named champion of the three Tours in which the only man who beat him has had his victories stripped for doping?
Because after being named in the Puerto scandal and years of denials, in 2013 Ullrich told German magazine Focus, “I am no better than Armstrong…”
As if to underline that he was “no better than Armstrong”, Ullrich elaborated, singing many of Lance’s greatest hits since the American admitted to doping:
“Almost everybody back then took performance-enhancing substances.
“I didn’t take anything which the others were not taking.
“For me, betrayal only begins when I gain an advantage, but that was not the case. I just wanted to ensure equal opportunities.”
Catch up on the rest of World War Cycling:
PART 1: The Prologue
PART 2: The United States of America
PART 3: Italy
PART 4: Doping learnings of America for make benefit glorious nation of Kazakhstan
PART 5: Spain
Ullrich’s admission came almost 18 months after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled, based on evidence from Operacion Puerto, that “Ullrich engaged at least in blood doping”.
CAS’s ruling – handed down on February 9, 2012 – barred the German from competitive cycling for two years. It was something of a slap on the wrist, considering Ullrich had retired from the sport in 2007.
All his results from May 1, 2005 until his retirement were also voided, however since he had been sacked by his T-Mobile team in the wake of the Puerto scandal, that only equated to his third place at the 2005 Tour and a handful of stages at lesser races being stripped.
Then, barely a month after his admission, Ullrich was named in the French Senate report into doping at the 1998 Tour. Specifically, he was listed as twice having tested positive for using EPO, although so too was third-place Bobby Julich, while winner Marco Pantani was found to have failed the test also.
A proven doper in 1998 and 2005, how likely is it Ullrich stayed off the juice for the middle portion of his career? For example, was he clean at the 2003 Tour, when he came second to Armstrong by just 61 seconds in what was, at the time, the sixth closest first-second finish in Tour history?
Nor were the CAS and French Senate findings Ullrich’s only brushes with the anti-doping authorities, having served a ban in 2002 for amphetamines.
However while amphetamines have been the performance-enhancing drug of choice for many a cyclist over the years, this failed test had occurred out of competition, with Ullrich having ingested an ecstasy tablet.
He was given a six-month ban, the minimum amount for such an offence.
However while Ullrich’s career achievements are now acknowledged as having come on the back of doping, he has been allowed to keep all his titles and victories, bar those few from May ’05 onward.
Obviously the same cannot be said for his rival, Armstrong, who in the wake of Ullrich’s admission posted the following tweet:
Jan Ullrich? Warm hearted. Amazing athlete. Great competitor. Loved toeing the line with you my friend.
— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) June 22, 2013
Nor can the same be said for Ullrich’s predecessor as champion of the Tour de France, 1996 winner Bjarne Riis.
Well, not quite.
Again after years of denials, in May 2007 Riis admitted to having doped during his ’96 victory.
But don’t mistake the Dane’s eventual honesty with honour. Rather, he made his admission in the same circumstances as Ullrich and Armsrtong – with his back to the wall.
In May 2007 Jef d’Hont, who had been a soigneur for Riis and Ullrich’s Telekom team from 1992-96, said both riders had used EPO.
In the days that followed, five more Telekom riders came forward to admit having doped while riding with Riis and Ullrich.
Thus, on May 27, Riis gave a press conference in which he admitted to his past.
“I have taken doping. I have taken EPO,” he said. “I have made errors and I would like to apologise.
“For a time it was a part of everyday life for me. I have bought it myself and taken it.”
Then, of course, he dropped the go-to refrain: “Doping was part of the scene that I was part of.”
Riis also admitted to having taken cortisone and human growth hormone.
Going even further, in his autobiography he admitted to having used the anti-depressant Prozac, saying, “The pills made me feel much more positive, which allowed me to see possibilities rather than limitations.”
(To be fair, Prozac is not on WADA’s list of banned substances, however few could argue his motivation for using it was to enhance performance, rather than battle a chemical imbalance, particularly given he received the pills from “a colleague” rather than a doctor.)
Having admitted to doping, Riis also said at the press conference that his ’96 yellow jersey was “in a cardboard box at home in my garage, and can be collected if anyone thinks I shouldn’t have it anymore.”
If he was bluffing he did an ordinary job of it, because days later Christian Prudhomme, head of the Amaury Sports Organisation (who run the Tour), declared Riis’ ’96 title was to be stripped.
However, much like Lance’s vacant titles, the issue was to whom the victory now belonged.
Second place in 1996 had been Ullrich, but while the German had not admitted to doping at that stage, it hardly made sense to strip one rider of a title and hand it to his teammate, when it was clear doping had been a systemic part of the Telekom team.
Third and fourth place were Richard Virenque and Laurent Dufaux, who both were busted in 1998 as part of the Festina scandal.
As a result, the 1996 Tour title sat vacant for 12 months, until in July 2008 the ASO decided they could not “rewrite history”.
“We recognise Bjarne Riis as the winner of the 1996 Tour de France. But with an asterisk,” Philippe Sudres, media director for the Tour de France, told Danish magazine Politiken.
“… Now he appears again in his earlier spot, but not exactly the same as the other winners. Immediately under his name we have written that he has admitted to doping during the Tour in 1996, but that the admission came so late, that according to the rules it cannot influence the result.”
Thus, Riis’ penance for doping his way to Tour glory was having his title stripped, only for it to be reinstated.
He did not serve any time suspended, which – as opposed to Ullrich – would have carried serious weight, as Riis went from competing as a cyclist into team ownership and management.
As the owner and manager of Team CSC, Riis recruited Tyler Hamilton in 2001. In his autobiography, Hamilton says he had a very frank discussion with Riis regarding doping, and that it was the Dane who introduced him to Dr Eufemiano Fuentes (the man at the centre of the Operacion Puerto scandal), and encouraged blood doping.
Danish rider Michael Rasmussen, in his book Yellow Fever, also spoke of doping while riding on Riis’ Team CSC:
“Except for a meeting we had shortly after I joined the team, I never had a conversation with him [Riis] about doping. He didn’t encourage me to use doping. Implicitly, I was expected to take care of it myself…
“The team doctors did blood tests from all riders to monitor our haematocrit values during the season. In that way, they observed which riders used EPO and which riders were in danger of getting caught. Of course, Bjarne also had access to those numbers. After all, it was his doctors.”
Riis has denied both these allegations. And that, seemingly, was that.
The Dane continued working in cycling until March this year, when he left team Tinkoff-Saxo (having sold CSC to Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov in 2013, but staying on as team manager) by mutual consent.
He is free to resume his career in cycling management whenever he wishes.
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