Jan Ullrich given two-year ban from CAS

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The Court of Arbitration for Sport has issued a two-year ban for Jan Ullrich, to run from August 22, 2011. In addition, all his results from May 2005 until his retirement in February 2007 are annulled, including his third-place overall finish in the 2005 Tour de France.

The CAS partially upheld the UCI's appeal of the Swiss Olympic decision to dismiss its doping investigation into Ullrich after his retirement, and ruled that he was guilty of a doping offence.

“Given the volume, consistency and probative value of the evidence presented by the UCI, and the failure of Jan Ullrich to raise any doubt about the veracity of reliability of such evidence, this Panel came to the conclusion that Jan Ullrich engaged at least in blood doping in violation of Article 15.2 of the UCI Anti-Doping rules,” the court said.

Ullrich was involved in the blood doping scheme of Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes which was uncovered in Operacion Puerto in 2006. He was suspended by T-Mobile Team shortly before the start of the Tour de France that year and subsequently released. He announced his retirement in February 2007 and that same year it was announced that a DNA test matched his blood to samples taken into custody in Operacion Puerto.

Swiss Olympic conducted an investigation but closed it in 2009, saying it had no jurisdiction over Ullrich, a German living in Switzerland and thus riding with a Swiss licence, since he had retired.  The UCI appealed that decision to the CAS.

The panel ruled “that it was possible, under the UCI rules, to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Jan Ullrich even if the athlete was no longer a licence-holder.”

The panel noted the UCI's evidence that Fuentes provided doping services to athletes, and that Ullrich visited him on “multiple occasions”. Further, Ullrich paid Fuentes more than 80,000 Euros for services that have not been particularized,” and, of course, the DNA tests which “confirmed that Jan Ullrich's genetic profile matched blood bags ready for use in doping purposes found in the possession of Dr. Fuentes.

“The Panel also expressed its surprise that Jan Ullrich did not question the veracity of the evidence or any other substantive aspect of  the case, limiting his defence to procedural issues.”

The CAS rejected the UCI's request for a lifetime ban for Ullrich, who was previously suspended in 2002 for amphetamines. The out-of-competition use of amphetamines is no longer a violation and so the panel “refused to consider Jan Ullrich guilty of a second doping offence.”

The two-year ban was given the starting date of August 22, 2011, the date of the CAS hearing.  All of this results as of May 1, 2005, are disqualified, “as it is established that Jan Ullrich was fully engaged with Dr. Fuentes' doping programe at least from that date.”

Ullrich's biggest lost result is his third place in the 2005 Tour de France. He also loses his win in the Tour de Suisse stage two time trial and third place overall that same year, as well as his second place in the Tour de France stage 20 time trial, and his win in the Deutschland Tour time trial and overall second place. For 2006, he loses his win in the Giro d'Italia time trial, as well as the Tour de Suisse time trial and overall wins.