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Ullrich wins back salary over doping denial

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-13 11:23

BERLIN -- German former cyclist Jan Ullrich won 340,000 euros in back pay Wednesday after denying on oath taking drugs in the early part of 2003 before a German court in Dusseldorf.

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich of Germany arrives in a courtroom in the western German city of Duesseldorf November 12, 2008. [Agencies]

Ullrich ,who won the Tour de France in 1997, has long been suspected of doping but has vehemently denied doing so.

He won the damages from former team Coast, now defunct. The team had refused to pay some of Ullrich's salary in the belief the rider was not clean when he joined in 2003.

"Truth has won out," the 34-year-old Ullrich insisted afterwards.       

He ended his career in February last year after being implicated in the Puerto scandal in Spain but never tested positive for any banned substance.

German prosecutors had accused him of taking performance-enhancing drugs, leading under German law to fraud charges of alleged deception of the public, sponsors and his team.