Germany's Jan Ullrich in 2006 (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
More details about Jan Ullrich's relationship with Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes, centre of Spanish doping investigation Operación Puerto, have emerged. The former Tour de France winner knew the code names and telephone numbers for Fuentes and his assistant Merino Batres, according to news magazine Focus.
The German federal police (BKA) found a CD with telephone numbers during a search of Ullrich's house in Scherzigen, Switzerland, in 2006. The CD contains numbers for individuals identified as Asterix and Obelix, the former referring to Fuentes and Batres, respectively.
The code names were known only to insiders. German cyclist Jörg Jaksche, who was involved with Fuentes and served a suspension, confirmed to the BKA that the doctors used the French comic book characters' names.
Last month, German magazine Spiegel said that Ullrich visited Fuentes in Madrid 24 times from 2003 to 2006, with the trips planned by former Team T-Mobile director Rudy Pevenage. Evidence of the trips was found on on Pevenage's computer, which the BKA had seized.
Pevenage told German investigators that the trips were aimed at helping Ullrich's weight problems and that he was unaware of any doping which may have taken place.
Ullrich stopped racing in 2006 and retired February 2007. He has consistently denied ever having doped.
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