Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich arrested over alleged attack on prostitute in German hotel

Police say retired German cyclist resisted arrest and was under the influence of drugs and alcohol

Ullrich’s career was dogged by doping allegations (AFP/Getty)

Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich has been arrested after allegedly attacking a prostitute at a Frankfurt hotel.

Police said the retired German cyclist had resisted arrest and was under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

“Currently, the accused is being investigated for attempted manslaughter and dangerous assault,” Frankfurt police said in statement.

News agency dpa reported that Ullrich had been arrested the week before in Mallorca, where he lives, after an incident on the property of his neighbour, actor Til Schweiger.

And on Monday Ullrich told German tabloid Bild of personal problems.

“The separation from [my wife] Sara and distance from my children, whom I have not seen since Easter and have barely spoken to, have had a great effect on me,” he said. “I have done things as a result that I very much regret.”

Ullrich, the only German to win the Tour de France, was dogged by doping allegations during his career and admitted that he received blood-doping treatment from Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.

The 1997 Tour champion said: “Almost everyone took performance-enhancing substances then.

“I took nothing that the others didn’t also take.”

Ullrich served a two-year ban for doping in 2012, five years after he retired.

Associated Press