(Munich) “I took cocaine in droves, I drank whiskey like water, until I was close to death”: in an Amazon Prime documentary available at the end of November, the former Cyclist Jan Ullrich looks back on his descent into hell five years ago.
The four-episode series dedicated to 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich, titled Der Gejagte (The Prey), will be available on Amazon Prime on November 28, a few days before the cyclist’s 50th birthday on December 2.
Ullrich talks about his “immense fall”, five years ago, and his “personal journey to Santiago”. “It was life or death. I was really not well. I took cocaine in droves, I drank whiskey like water, until I was close to death,” he admits.
Now, “the most important thing for me is not to want to go looking for limits for the rest of my life, but on the contrary to find the right balance”, explained the native of Rostock during the presentation of the documentary at Munich, for his first public appearance on Thursday.
He felt he had “tested the limits enough, both up and down. I don’t need this anymore.” “Twenty years later, you recognize the mistakes you made,” he said.
For the documentary, the cyclist got back on the bike and returned to the theaters of his great exploits in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
“The goal was for me to go back into the past, to return to the places where I won big races, but also where I made mistakes, which made me grow,” explains Ullrich, who thus reveals its entire story.
The German saw the end of his career overshadowed by doping. Excluded from the Grande Boucle in 2006 on the eve of the start, he was convicted of doping a year later by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and all of his results obtained after May 2005 were annulled.
He will eventually recognize in 2013 having used doping products.
“It would be wrong to say that I didn’t fool anyone. For me, I was focused on my opponents, but obviously the fans are part of it,” he says.
Ullrich hopes that “the spectators, the supporters, the people who see this, can put themselves in my shoes a little bit”.
“I feel lighter and I have made peace with my past,” added Ullrich, who said he has rediscovered the pleasure of cycling with his children.