Jan Ullrich Thinks About Retirement

Jan Ullrich is on the verge of retiring from the sport of cycling. Well, there is still a chance of him being suspended after his alleged involvement in the "Puerto operation", but that doesn't seem to matter for the German champ. The 1997 Tour de France winner was sacked by his team in the worst possible way, being sent a fax by the team lawyer. It was the most humiliating moments in his career, after all the things he has done for T-Mobile along the years.

Basically, he was the main reason why the German team continued to stay on top of the overall standings in most of the competitions. Ullrich fought hard for every edition of Le Tour, even when nobody gave him a chance. He lost to Pantani in 1998 and trailed Armstrong in 1999 and 2000. This was supposed to be his year in the French competition - or Basso's - but his team decided to pull him off the race due to doping allegations.

Even if the team's officials stated that they're going to back him up all the way, T-Mobile did not wait until the verdict in the "Puerto Operation" was made public. So they fired him. It is yet to see if he's found not guilty in the trial. If he is truly innocent - like he continuously stated all these weeks - he may return to cycling, but with another team.

Even if the T-Mobile officials treated him like dirt, his former colleagues did not forget him. After a great time-trial on Saturday, Andreas Kloden managed to squeeze a podium step, finishing the Tour after Landis and Pareiro. "We fought till the end for Jan, so he can be proud of us. With Jan here, we would have won the Tour this year. Jan was innocent. I know him. He's a good friend of mine", said Kloden at the finish line.

The German's sacking did not seem to interest Le Tour manager Jean Marie LeBlanc either. Known as a manager who doesn't really give a damn on the Tour's former champions - Armstrong, Ullrich, Pantani - LeBlanc stated that Ullrich wouldn't have made a whole lot of difference this year and agreed that Landis will be able to defend his title next year now that the German and Armstrong are both out of the cycling world. Will the German surprise him?