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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 7:01 a.m., Sunday, May 25, 2008

Cycling: Ullrich to face questions about alleged doping

Associated Press

DUESSELDORF, Germany — Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich will face questions about doping allegations during a court case in which he is seeking unpaid wages.

"I can confirm that it is planned to question Mr. Ullrich if he doped or not," Ulrich Thole, spokesman for the Duesseldorf regional court, said Sunday.

Ullrich, the 1997 Tour winner, wants $760,000 from the Coast team, which has refused payment because it assumes he was doping while he rode for the squad in 2003.

A fraud investigation into allegations of performance-enhancing drug use by Ullrich was dropped in April. Ullrich maintained his innocence, but paid a large fine as part of a deal that included the dismissal of fraud charges.

Those charges centered on the idea that using performance-enhancing drugs deceived employers and boosted his income illegally.

Ullrich signed with T-Mobile in 2003 after Coast went bankrupt, and he was released by T-Mobile in 2006 after his name was linked to the Spanish doping scandal.