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24.02.2007/ As reported German media speculated on Wednesday that Jan Ullrich will announce his retirement at a press conference
on Monday February 26. But yesterday sportbild.de opened with the headline: "Ullrich is moving to Austria." Speaking with
Cyclingheroes, Volksbank Team manager Thomas Kofler did not really denie the sportbild.de article. Meanwhile Cyclingheroes
spoke with Ullrich's lawyer Marcus Hotze about the Puerto documents on Friday after a German media report.
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| Jan Ullrich will make a statement to the press on Monday (picture: Citypress) |
As reported German media speculated on Wednesday that Jan Ullrich will announce his retirement at a press conference
on Monday February 26. But yesterday sportbild.de opened with the headline: "Ullrich is moving to Austria. The sensation is
complete!" and although some media published denials of Volksbank team manager Thomas Kofler yesterday, the story could be
true. Asked about the sportbild.de story, Kofler told Cyclingheroeson Friday morning: "As Jan already announced we will
know more on Monday. It is no secret that we are in contact for a long time now. But nothing is signed yet."
Volksbank also negotiated with Jörg Jaksche a while ago, which could be interesting as Ullrich might wish
to be surrounded by strong domestiques. Asked about the negotiations with Jörg Jaksche (with whom we will
publish a long interview in the coming days), Kofler said: "the negotiations are put on hold untill we know how the case
with JJ will develope. I wish for him that he will be treated fairly and that he can spend his time on the sport like
most riders of this affair already do." Volksbank was about to sign a contract with Jörg Jaksche but the deal was stopped
after the organizers of the Tour of Germany threatened not to give the Austrian team a wildcard if they would sign Jaksche.
Australian based website cyclingnews.com published a story on Friday in which it was written that Kofler
confirmed, "he had spoken with Ullrich in the last few days" and that the winner of the 1997 Tour de France "will be in touch
with him over the weekend." According to cyclingnews.com Kofler was planning to meet various sponsors on Friday and said:
"Things look good."
Meanwhile German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung claimed that Ullrich's lawyers recently applied
to a Spanish court to block the transfer of blood bags, which were seized by the Guardia Civil last year, to Germany for DNA
comparisons. Jan Ullrich denied the report in a statement on his personal website www.janullrich.de .
Speaking with Cyclingheroes one of Ullrich's lawyers , Marcus Hotze explained: "We filed a complaint at
the end of last year. The author of the Puerto report [Guardia Civil lieutenant Enrique Gomez Bastida, who also lead the Puerto investigation] is officially accused of forgery of documents, betrayal of secrets..." Mister Hotze continued by saying: "There are two
or even three members of the Guardia Civil who are accused now, some of the Puerto information was sold. It would be grotesque
to accept the transfer to Germany of the documents as long as the investigation against these members of the Guardia Civil
continues." Mister Hotze also said that Jan Ullrich would have nothing against a transfer of evidence to Germany under "normal
conditions in accordance with the rule of law."
In a statement on Jan Ullrich's website, another lawyer of Jan Ullrich, Dr. Ulrich Theune
said, "The reasons for this [the complaint against the transfer of Puerto evidence to Germany] are obvious. The use of the
investigation against the Spanish doctor for other purposes is a scandalous expression of uninhibited arbitrariness of
the authorities. The reports of the Guardia Civil contain a colourful mixture of unfounded claims, conjectures and suspicions.
They are unlawfully constructed, unlawfully disseminated, and purposely falsely interpreted. For these reasons, there
are currently in Spain several court proceedings against leading figures of the Guardia Civil, especially because of the falsification
of evidence."
One of our sources told Cyclingheroes that court number 19, the court which is investigating the possible
falsification of Puerto documents, is also investigating the role of Rafael Blanco who is the director of the Spanish
Superior Council of Sports, Consejo Superior de Deportes" (CSD) which is a government
body. Although the judge of court 19 was replaced, the investigation against Blanco, Gomez and other high ranked members of
the Guardia Civil continues.
Related stories: Special coverage: Puerto affair
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