He could have died there. Again. Jan Ullrich, 51, former Tour de France winner and tragic figure in German cycling, was violently struck by a car last Friday while cycling. The result: a broken collarbone, multiple bruises, and abrasions. The former champion was rushed to hospital, but is now out of danger. From his bed, he reassured his fans in a message posted on Instagram: "Yes, it's true, I was hit by a car during training." Smiling, but weakened, the 2000 Olympic champion also thanked the hundreds of messages of support he received. He promises to return to the precise circumstances of the accident in his podcast. Ulle & Rick.
Repeated resilience
A consultant for Eurosport, Ullrich was due to appear on the show. Bike Club for the start of the Giro d'Italia. He had to cancel. He nevertheless hopes to be recovered in time for his own event, the Jan Ullrich Cycling Festival, scheduled for May 17 and 18 in Bad Dürrheim, Germany. This latest accident adds to a dark streak surrounding the former prodigy of the peloton. In 2018, consumed by his addictions, he had a brush with death. It's the same story again in 2021, this time the victim of thrombosis and blood poisoning, a direct consequence of years of excess. Jan Ullrich, winner of the 1997 Tour de France and the only German successor to the Indurain era, embodies a generation lost between glory and fall. If his demons have pursued him well beyond his career, his body, too, seems to give him no respite. A survivor of several miracles, he is hanging on, a battered icon that we would like to see soothed.
