Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich was fired by his T-Mobile team on Friday, three weeks after he was linked to a Spanish doctor charged with doping.
Ullrich was forced out of this year's Tour on the eve of the race. He had been considered a leading contender.
Ullrich, who won the Tour in 1997 and was runner-up five times, was pulled out of the race after Spanish media reports said his name turned up on a list of 56 cyclists who had contact with the doctor.
T-Mobile said it also immediately terminated the contract of Spanish rider Oscar Sevilla, who also was pulled from the Tour and suspended by the team. T-Mobile said Ullrich and Sevilla failed to provide evidence of their innocence within a deadline set by the team.
"Since Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla did not offer proof of their innocence, termination was the necessary and consistent step following their suspension," team manager Olaf Ludwig said in a statement released by the team.
"Sport, in particular cycling, has committed itself to ethical and moral rules of its own that also are documented in the riders' contracts," said T-Mobile spokesman Christian Frommert.
Ullrich has denied allegations of doping. On Monday, Ullrich said his lawyers have asked Spanish officials for written clarification of the accusations and whether they will lead to charges.
A statement posted on the rider's Web site on Friday said T-Mobile terminated his contract the day before. Manager Wolfgang Strohband said Ullrich's dismissal was "unfounded" and said the rider would appeal, unless a deal was reached with the team in a meeting planned for next week.
"The termination by T-Mobile is not acceptable to me," Ullrich said in Friday's statement. "I am very disappointed that this decision was not communicated to me personally, but only by fax by the T-Mobile lawyers."
"I find it shameful that, after so many years of good cooperation and after all I have done for the team, I am being treated as a fax number," the statement said.
Ullrich's contract was due to expire at the end of this year.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
RSS