Ullrich back from the sun

By Susan Westemeyer

Froh Weihnachten! Jan Ullrich has returned to Switzerland after nearly four weeks in South Africa. "He trained well with Andreas Klöden, Matthias Kessler, Steffen Wesemann, Olaf Pollack, Patrik Sinkewitz, Andre Korff and Danilo Hondo - maybe even better than last year," T-Mobile's Rudy Pevenage told the German press agency dpa.

The next training camp will be the team's official training camp on Mallorca, starting January 10. On his website, www.janullrich.de, Ullrich says, "The last four weeks were very satisfactory," and not only from a sporting point of view. "In this time I got to know many new people and gained new experiences. The difference between the rich and poor is especially large in South Africa. The many millions of people in the townships struggle every day to have the simplest things in life. I especially think about that when I wrap the Christmas presents for my loved ones. I think that each of us should do his part to battle against the misery in the world."