Focusing on the sport

Ullrich considered quitting the tour

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Posted: Wednesday September 02, 1998 05:58 PM

Ullrich was greeted on Monday by 8,000 fans in Bonn's main square Alex Livesey/Allsport

BONN, Germany (CNN/SI) -- Jan Ullrich of Germany the 1997 Tour de France champion and who finished second in the overall standings of this year's race behind Marco Pantani of Italy said that had been so upset by the drug scandal he had considered quitting the race.

"At one stage I almost bought myself a ticket [to go back home]," Ullrich said.

"Then I decided to concentrate on the sporting aspect," he said at a sports equipment fair in Munich on Tuesday.

Only half the 189-strong peleton that started the race in Dublin on July 11 were at Sundays finish on the Champs Elysees after six teams withdrew and one was thrown out following a widespread probe into doping by the French police.

Ullrich won three of the Tour's stages -- two time trials and a mountain ride.

He received a heroes welcome Monday in Bonn where 8,000 fans packed the towns main square to acclaim him.

Ullrich confirmed Tuesday he would take part in two World Cup races in Hamburg and Zurich this month.

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Reuters contributed to this report.