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Jan Ullrich sacked by T-Mobile team after doping scandal

Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich was fired by his T-Mobile team on Friday, three weeks after he was linked to a Spanish doctor charged with doping.

Ullrich was forced out of this year's Tour on the eve of the race. He had been considered a leading contender.

Ullrich, who won the Tour in 1997 and was runner-up five times, was pulled out of the race after Spanish media reports said his name turned up on a list of 56 cyclists who had contact with the doctor.

T-Mobile said it also immediately terminated the contract of Spanish rider Oscar Sevilla, who also was pulled from the Tour and suspended by the team. T-Mobile said Ullrich and Sevilla failed to provide evidence of their innocence within a deadline set by the team.

"Since Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla did not offer proof of their innocence, termination was the necessary and consistent step following their suspension," team manager Olaf Ludwig said in a statement released by the team.

"Sport, in particular cycling, has committed itself to ethical and moral rules of its own that also are documented in the riders' contracts," said T-Mobile spokesman Christian Frommert.

Ullrich has denied allegations of doping. On Monday, Ullrich said his lawyers have asked Spanish officials for written clarification of the accusations and whether they will lead to charges.

A statement posted on the rider's Web site on Friday said T-Mobile terminated his contract the day before. Manager Wolfgang Strohband said Ullrich's dismissal was "unfounded" and said the rider would appeal, unless a deal was reached with the team in a meeting planned for next week.

"The termination by T-Mobile is not acceptable to me," Ullrich said in Friday's statement. "I am very disappointed that this decision was not communicated to me personally, but only by fax by the T-Mobile lawyers."

"I find it shameful that, after so many years of good cooperation and after all I have done for the team, I am being treated as a fax number," the statement said.

Ullrich's contract was due to expire at the end of this year.
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