Ullrich will not contest T-Mobile dismissal

Jan Ullrich has accepted his firing from the T-Mobile Team and will not contest it further, thus losing out on potential millions of Euros. German TV channel ZDF quotes Spiegel magazine as saying Ullrich's decision was not exactly voluntary, but forced upon him by his manager, Wolfgang Strohband's, actions.

Ullrich was suspended by the team on the day before the start of the Tour de France, on suspicion of being involved in the Spanish doping scandal around doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. The team formally fired him three weeks later, on July 20. At that time, Ullrich called the firing "not acceptable." Strohband issued a statement saying calling it "ungrounded" and announcing that Ullrich would take legal action.

However, Spiegel now reports that Strohband is responsible for the fact that Ullrich will now not receive the severance payment which he and the team had allegedly already negotiated. The problem: Strohband's statement that Ullrich would never again ride for T-Mobile, that this was a "closed chapter".

"I do not want to comment on the outcome of our examinations," said Apostel, who is currently waiting for the protocols of taped phone calls from Spain, which allegedly prove the link between Ullrich and doping doctor Fuentes.