Some editions of the Tour de France mark the start of a new era in the sport, when a new generational talent emerges or years of dominance suddenly end. Tadej Pogačar first made his mark on the Tour de France when he snatched victory from Primoz Roglic in the La Planche des Belle Filles time trial in 2020. In 1986, Greg LeMond ended Bernard Hinault’s reign and stopped him from winning a sixth Tour.

Bradley Wiggins was the first British rider to win the Tour de France in 2012, but then Chris Froome did even better in 2013, going on to win the Tour four times. Pogačar is the favourite to win this year’s Tour, but there is a sense we are about to see the start of the Paul Seixas era as the 19-year-old French super talent makes his Tour debut, with his potential set to be tested this July.

In 1996, there was a similar moment in cycling history. Miguel Indurain had won five consecutive editions of the Tour but was brutally dethroned by Bjarne Riis and Jan Ullrich as Team Telekom suddenly became a super team.

In 1997, Ullrich won the Tour, inspiring a boom in German cycling, but then the Festina Affaire exploded in 1998. Marco Pantani won the yellow jersey but then was disqualified from the 1999 Giro d’Italia after failing a UCI haematocrit test. It was the peak of the EPO era. Lance Armstrong transformed into a Tour de France winner and often defeated Ullrich at the Tour before the house of cards collapsed into scandal.

Renowned cycling journalist, television interviewer, and podcaster Daniel Friebe wrote the definitive biography about Ullrich’s life and career: Jan Ullrich – The best there never was.

Friebe tells the story of Ullrich’s rise from his East German roots, his breakthrough ride at the 1996 Tour alongside Riis, his 1997 Tour victory, and his battles with Pantani and then Armstrong. It also delves deep into Ullrich’s links to Dr Fuentes and Operación Puerto, and into his troubled post-racing life that almost ended in self-destruction, before Armstrong helped his rival get his life back together.

“The 1996 Tour was a seismic moment in the sport. We all thought Indurain was invulnerable, and to watch him crack was incredible,” Friebe says as he helps Cyclingnews understand the 1996 Tour and the story behind the Team Telekom squad that won the race.

“Few people thought Riis and Telekom would be the ones to win the Tour, but by the time they reached Paris, with Riis first, Ullrich second and Zabel winning the green jersey, Telekom were a big emerging power.”

The success, lack of morality and ultimately the downfall of Team Telekom was overseen by Walter Godefroot and Ullrich’s mentor and sports director Rudy Pevenage. Both came from the old school of pro racing in Belgium, and both facilitated the work of the doctors and riders to keep the millions flowing from the huge German mobile communications giant.

Riis pulled on the yellow jersey in Paris in July 1996, only to confess to doping a decade later. Many of his Telekom teammates soon did the same, a confession that helped them stay in the sport, but Ullrich held onto his lie for fear of losing his Tour victory. He eventually turned his life around and, in 2023, confessed as part of his rehabilitation.

30 years on from the 1996 Tour de France, Cyclingnews investigates where the Team Telekom riders are today and how their dominance in 1996 subsequently impacted their careers and lives.

Bjarne Riis

Bjarne Riis had already raced for 10 years and was 31 when he joined Telekom for the 1996 season. He had finished third in the 1995 Tour while with Gewiss-Ballan and was determined to complete his transformation from domestique to Grand Tour winner.

Friebe captured Riis’ sense of ambition in his book, but also the doubts of his new teammates. “During the pre-season team presentation, Riis told the media: ‘I’m going to win the Tour.’ The other riders heard from an adjacent room and all burst out laughing,” Friebe tells Cyclingnews.

“Riis’ self-belief became a running joke on the team in 1996, but he proved to be right.”

Indurain’s demise in 1996 was a surprise, but it began on stage 7 to Arc 1800. Then Riis famously dropped everyone on stage 16 to Hautacam after slowing to look his rivals in the eye before powering away in a huge gear. Ullrich pulled back two minutes on Riis in the final Bordeaux time trial and finished 1:41 behind in Paris. He was a loyal teammate, and his Tour victory would come in 1997.

11 years later, Riis confessed to doping after revelations by soigneur Jef D’Hont and an investigation into the work of the team doctors who were part of the Sports Medicine Department of the Freiburg University Clinic.

There were calls for Riis to hand back his yellow jersey, but due to the 10-year statute of limitations, he could not be formally suspended, nor could his victory be cancelled from the record books. Riis showed some remorse but was allowed to stay in the sport.

He became the manager and driving force of Team CSC and then Saxo Bank-Tinkov for a decade, trying to take on Armstrong with Ivan Basso and Tyler Hamilton. He was accused of knowing that his riders doped and of doing little to stop them, but he worked with teams until 2020.

In recent years, Riis has become a television and media pundit in Denmark. As a team manager, he was known for his long silences and scowls during interviews but is now frequently in the headlines for his bold comments about Jonas Vingegaard and pro cycling.

Rolf Aldag

Aldag was a long-time domestique and core member of Team Telekom, racing for the team between 1993 and 2005. He was part of the 1996 and 1997 Tour-winning teams and doped like many of his teammates, but confessed and apologised in 2007.

When Bob Stapleton took over as team manager and tried to clean up the team, he wanted Aldag as a sports director and rider mentor. Aldag’s character and experience meant he played a key role in Mark Cavendish’s early years with the team.

“We drew a line and said, this is the past, and we draw the line here and make sure this never happens on this team,” Aldag told Cyclingnews in 2008.

Aldag left the sport in 2011 when the team folded, but returned in 2015 and linked up with Cavendish once again as the Performance Manager at MTN-Qhubeka. He rose to become Chief of Sports at Bora-Hansgrohe but was replaced in 2025 after Red Bull came on board. He is now the Director of Sport for the women’s Canyon-SRAM team and is based in South Africa when not at races or team camps. Aldag will commentate on the 2026 Tour de France for Eurosport Germany.

Udo Bölts

Udo Bölts was one of the hard men of 1990s German cycling and rode for Telekom between 1991 and 2002. He famously finished 12 consecutive editions of the Tour between 1992 and 2003.

During the 1997 Tour, Bölts famously shouted “Torture yourself, you pig!” at Ullrich as he suffered under the pressure of Richard Virenque’s Festina team’s pace-setting. Bölts helped save Ullrich’s Tour victory, and the phrase became a sporting aphorism. Bölts even copyrighted the phrase and still uses it today to sell merchandise.

True to character, Bölts still rides a lot, mixing mountain biking with gravel and working as a guide at the Pfälzerwald Mountain Bike Park in western Germany. He has won Masters titles at the Cape Epic mountain bike stage race and UCI Gravel World Series events, and was third at the 2025 Masters Gravel World Championships.

Christian Henn

Henn turned professional with the legendary Italian Carrera Jeans team in 1989 after winning a bronze medal in the road race at the Seoul Olympic Games. He raced for Telekom between 1992 and 1999.

He retired after testing positive for testosterone but still found a place in the sport, working as a sports director for the equally troubled Gerolsteiner team that exploded in 2008 after several team leaders tested positive for the second-generation EPO variant CERA.

Henn was a sports director with the German Lotto-Kern Haus Continental team until 2021 but is now semi-retired.

Jens Heppner

Like Ullrich, Heppner came through the East German school of cycling and turned professional with Panasonic-Sportlife in 1991, two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. He raced for Telekom for a decade, often sharing a room with Ullrich at major races.

He worked as a sports director for Team Wiesenhof after retiring in 2005. While many of his former Telekom teammates confessed to doping in 2007, Heppner continues to deny he doped, perhaps because of Heppner’s close links to Ullrich.

However, in 2013, he was one of 18 riders named in a French Senate report that linked their 1998 samples to EPO in retrospective tests. The UCI said those results could not be used for disciplinary action. Heppner, who has never admitted doping, left his role at Team NetApp shortly afterwards and never returned to professional cycling. He now occasionally works as a cycling guide in Mallorca and South Africa.

Brian Holm

Holm was the chatty Dane amongst the more reserved German riders at Telekom. He was a friend of Riis but impressed Belgian team manager Walter Godefroot, securing his place at Telekom thanks to his results with the Roland and Histor teams.

Holm was a kind of bridge between Riis and the German core at Telekom, his sense of fun helping to lift the mood during the fatigue of the 1996 Tour. He retired in 1998 and so avoided the first doping scandals. He confessed to taking EPO at Telekom in 2007 when the Freiburg investigation exposed the true depth of Telekom’s doping.

Ironically, he returned to Telekom as a sports director in 2003, shocked at Ullrich’s lack of love for racing in the final years of his career. Holm soon bonded with Mark Cavendish and stayed with the Manxman for long spells of his career.

Holm was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2004 and was elected as a right-wing councillor for the wealthy Frederiksberg municipal council in Copenhagen, but worked as a sports director for QuickStep until 2022.

He is now a race analyst for Eurosport in Denmark and was in Italy to witness Jonas Vingegaard’s victory at the Giro d’Italia.

Mario Kummer

Kummer was the veteran of the 1996 Telekom team, turning professional with Chateau d’Ax in Italy after winning the gold medal in the team time trial at the 1988 Seoul Olympics with East Germany.

Kummer only survived two stages of the 1996 Tour after crashing on stage 1 and fracturing his collarbone. His early loss highlighted how Telekom dominated the Tour even with just eight riders.

Kummer retired in 1997 but would work with Telekom as sports director until 2005. He joined Astana in 2007, but unlike several former teammates, he did not confess during the 2007 revelations. Kummer then worked for SRM and Uvex after he left pro cycling and now runs a holiday and coaching business, often staying at the same Robinson-Club Cala Serena holiday resort in Mallorca, where Telekom gathered for their winter training camps.

Erik Zabel

Zabel’s sprint success in the 1995 Tour convinced Telekom to invest massively in pro cycling, leading to the success of 1996, Jan Ullrich’s career and the eventual doping scandals and investigations that still cast a shadow over the sport in Germany.

Zabel famously won Milan-San Remo four times, 12 stages at the Tour and six green points jerseys between 1996 and 2001. He was forced to confess to doping in 2007 but claimed that he only took EPO once in 1996. Zabel raced until 2008, ending his long career with Team Milram. His son Rick would also become a pro rider.

Zabel was a sprint coach with several teams but was dismissed by Katusha and the Canyon brand after eventually making a much fuller doping confession in 2013, admitting to foul play between 1996 and 2003.

The German has been Canyon’s Pro Sport Manager since 2017, acting as a conduit between the bike brand and its partner teams.

He arguably benefited from what could be called the Armstrong paradox. The Texan doped and was banned for life, but is still disliked and considered ‘persona non grata’ in the sport because of the way he bullied his rivals, the media and sponsors. Zabel is the opposite. He confessed a little, kept quiet, stayed friendly and kept a role in the sport.

Jan Ullrich

Jan Ullrich, like most of his Telekom teammates, eventually confessed to doping after going through a rollercoaster career that included taking EPO for the first time in 1996, helping Riis win the Tour and then winning himself in 1997.

Ullrich suffered and doped in silence as he battled with Lance Armstrong, the Texan’s dominance and personal issues stopping Ullrich from ever winning another Tour de France. His struggles against Armstrong, with weight and his personal life, somehow made Ullrich relatable to millions of Germans and cycling fans around the world.

“He comes across as a kind of likeable guy. He’s no Einstein, and he doesn’t profess to be. He’s a kind of simple guy, and that helps to endear him to people,” Friebe tells Cyclingnews.

“There was forgiveness, and there could have been sympathy because he was seen as a pawn in a bigger game. He was this kid who was thrust into the East German system and then into a German cycling craze. I personally felt sympathetic towards him too while writing my book.”

Ullrich is now 52 and has gone through some incredible highs and lows in his life.

Friebe spent almost a decade researching and writing his book on the man from Rostock. Ullrich was a talented East German teenager who won the amateur world title in Oslo in 1993, the same year that Armstrong surprisingly won the elite world title. He confirmed his talents by loyally helping Riis win the 1996 Tour and then dominated himself in 1997, beating Richard Virenque by over nine minutes.

He lost to Pantani in 1998 after suffering in the cold and rain on the stage over the Galibier to Les Deux Alpes. Then Armstrong came along, and not even a blood doping programme created by Eufemiano Fuentes could help Ullrich defeat the Texan. A gold medal in the road race at the 2000 Sydney Olympics ahead of Telekom teammates Andreas Klöden and Alexander Vinokourov was of little consolation.

Armstrong retired in 2005, but Ullrich raced on until the Operación Puerto scandal exploded in the summer of 2006. He was named and shamed before being stopped from riding the Tour de France on the eve of the race in Strasbourg and then sacked by T-Mobile. His DNA was later used to confirm that blood bags stored in Fuentes’ fridge were for ‘Hijo Rudicio – Son of Rudi’. Ullrich’s code name was linked to his sports director and mentor, Rudi Pevenage.

Despite all the evidence, Ullrich went into denial, even when the Court of Arbitration for Sport found him guilty and retroactively banned him for two years and cancelled his results from May 2005 until his retirement in February 2007.

“I sat in the car driving home from Strasbourg thinking: That was it. It is all over. And it was. I was right. For the next four years, I sat in my house and looked out of the window,” Ullrich told Rouleur years later.

A move to Mallorca with his wife Sara proved disastrous, and she soon left with their children. Ullrich lost control of his life due to alcohol and drugs, and in 2018, he was treated in a psychiatric hospital unit. Fortunately, Armstrong felt compelled to make an intervention to help his former rival and flew to Germany.

“I had big problems, and then you came to see me. I was so glad you came, and yes, I was just like Marco Pantani… nearly dead,” Ullrich admitted a few years later in one of Armstrong’s podcasts, after a slow process to get his life back on track.

That journey to redemption included a full confession, and Ullrich eventually came clean in 2023.

“If I had told my story, I would have had many wonderful years. But I didn’t have the courage. Now it feels good to admit my guilt,” he told the German media.

Ullrich still believes he deserves to be considered the 1997 Tour de France winner, despite confessing to doping. Armstrong lost his seven Tour victories because of the so-called ‘fraudulent concealment’ and because his 2009–2010 comeback reset the clock.

“I know what I have achieved. Personally, I think I deserve the title. Others have to decide that. But in my heart I am a Tour de France winner,” Ullrich said.

A return to riding his bike helped Ullrich get his life back on track, and he is now a popular figure in Germany.

He has 460,000 followers on Instagram, a new podcast with Rick Zabel and is the star of an annual Jan Ullrich Cycling Festival. His agent and PR people offer him as a corporate speaker, claiming he “stands for attitude, honesty, and the strength to get back up after setbacks.” His doping is rarely mentioned, while he is still considered the only German Tour de France winner.

“I’ve been surprised since he has come clean how quickly public opinion has flipped,” Friebe, who is based in Berlin, told Cyclingnews.

“I think time is the biggest healer. Until 2022, there was a sort of tension between Ullrich and the German public and German media. Everyone was desperate for him to confess, and until he confessed, he wasn’t going to be allowed back into public life. Now he is.”