Jan Ullrich added two new lawyers to his legal team. Apart from the Luther lawyers office, who are already working for Jan Ullrich, Dr. Peter-Michael Diestel  and Johan Schwenn are new to the team.

The new lawyers are well known celebrity lawyers in Germany. Johann Schwenn, a criminal defence lawyer from Hamburg, who has already acted on behalf of prominent kidnapping victims Richard Oetker and Jan Phillip Reemtsma. Two of the most remarkable German cases of obduction in the last century. Schwenn also defended former East German spy chief Markus Wolf. Dr. Peter-Michael Diestel was the last minister of the interior of Eastern Germany. Diestel could only start his career as a lawyer after the Berlin wall had come down. Diestel and Schwenn hit the headlines with their defence of Thomas Springstein, who had been accused of adminestering doping products to minors.

Diestel told German daily newspaper Tagesspiegel that Ullrich might give a DNA sample: "Jan Ullrich is somebody who cares for justice and who is prepared to provide a DNA sample if it should serve calrification. Up to now there has been no actual cause to so as there has been no precise accusations. Diestel continued by saying: "If the legal situation does require it, he will do it. One can not demand a hair sample of somebody by no reason. I do not demand a hair sample of you.

Asked of how he became to act on behalf of Ullrich anyway, Diestel said: "Well, i am one of the most friendliest lawyers anyway. And what's more Ullrich seems to be statisfied the way I handle things anyway. "

Asked which strategy he will embark on to persue, Diestel said: "There is a huge gap between reality and the sweeping demonization of my client. This has to be brought to an end. There are no doping accusations against him. Things have been found, that can be explained. This is what lawyer Johan Schwenn and me are working on at the moment. I like to see Jan Ullrich being reinstated to the ranks he deserves."

Asked about how agressive he intends to push Ullrichs defence, Diestel answered: "Very agressive. There is only been suspicions. The accusations are all wrong. This has to be stopped. Jan Ullrich is not the garbage dump of a whole nation but one of the most popular sportsmen of our home country. And I say this with pronounced pathos.  Jan Ullrich is a heroe but we Germans are unfortunally good at slaughtering heroes. Do you know why I defend him? Because Jan Ullrich is a pretty convincing intelligent and likeable person."

Meanwhile Ullrich press officer Michael Lang confirmed to Cyclingheroes that German media reports in which it has been said that Ullrich is training in South Africa "are not true".

Ullrich's former teammate Bernard Kohl told Austrian daily news paper Niederösterreichische Nachrichten: "The doping accusations against Jan Ullrich & co have damaged our sport. I think this whole story is completely bizarre. It's time now for those who made the accusations to present their evidence. But obviously they don't have any. That's character assassination."