Ullrich blames the press, attorneys seeking deal?

By Susan Westemeyer

The press is not playing with him fairly, Jan Ullrich said. "In the past few months, certain media outlets have not reported objectively on me. These sometimes manipulated media reports are purposely destroying my reputation." To avoid such reporters, "From now on I will make my statements only on my website," the retired cyclist wrote on jan-ullrich.de.

"There are still many questions open, even for me," continued Ullrich, who maintains his innocence even though a Bonn prosecutor has matched his voluntarily provided DNA sample with nine blood bags found in Spain. "Until my case is fully explained, I will not make any public statements - especially not under pressure from others." But eventually the German will have his say: "At the appropriate time I will explain everything from my viewpoint and change the question marks to exclamation points. Some of my critics will then surely lose their arrogant smiles," he proclaimed.

Meanwhile, German Bild tabloid reported that Ullrich's attorneys have "received signals" that a partial confession could lead to a milder sentence for Ullrich. Attorney Peter-Michael Distel said, "My colleague Schwenn and I have good working contacts in Bonn. If there is anything that can be done, then we will talk directly to the prosecutor in Bonn."