Former Tour winner Ullrich criticises race

Winner of the 1997 Tour de France, German Jan Ullrich, has criticised the Tour de France for lacking the grandeur of past.

"I don't think that the Tour can still be defined as the greatest race in the world," said 34 year-old Ullrich according to Agr. "It is not how it was once before. Before there were the best riders starting as favourites, but there were always the possibilities of surprises."

Ullrich retired from racing at the end of 2007 in the heat of allegations that he was linked with Eufemiano Fuentes and Operación Puerto.