A career with many vicissitudes finally meets a halt - initially excluded form the Tour de France and then sacked from the T-mobile team. The 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich has officially called for his retirement from cycling.
Doping has marred many affluent careers in Cycling - and Ullrich has been a victim to the same imp. The 33-year-old has finished as the runner up on five occasions in France but was charged with doping ahead of the 2006 race and since has been struggling to clear charges, and still denies of cheating.
Ullrich quoted in a press conference in Hamburg, Germany:
Today I’m ending my career as a professional cyclist. I never once cheated as a cyclist.
Ullrich’s career was marked with many achievements - other than the top finish at Tour de France, he competed in the event eight times but never finished below the fourth rank, in addition he also won the road race title in 2000 in Sydney.
Sad end to such a career though serves a good example to how a mistake can ruin.
