Aired: 11/28/2023
Jan Ullrich is back in Paris 25 years after his Tour victory, on the final day of the 109th Tour de France. The athlete from Rostock celebrated his greatest success here, and today he is persona non grata for those responsible. In Rostock he meets his first coach Peter Sager and remembers his childhood at the Rostock cycling track between competitive sports and the search for a father figure.
Jan Ullrich has always stood out from the crowd. Together with friend André Korff, the two young people went to the elite sports school in Berlin. And thus into the competitive sports system of the GDR. After reunification, Ullrich became a professional at Team Telekom. Germany should get a new sports legend.
Jan Ullrich quickly became the “golden child” of cycling. In 1997 he won the Tour de France. Red carpets are waiting, television stations are scrambling for him. But success comes with a price. In addition to Jan Ullrich, competitors like Marco Pantani also have to experience this. His mother reports on the Italian's lonely drug-related death. Doping is becoming a dominant topic in cycling.
Jan Ullrich's career ended with a bang in 2006: doping investigations and suspension. Personal collapse follows. First alcohol, then drugs. Jan Ullrich sinks into a mental hole. To this day he is still struggling to pull himself out of this hole. It should succeed through his “return to life”. First come to terms with the past, then start into the future with concrete plans.
