Former Tour de France champ Ullrich slapped with two year ban for doping offence

Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich has been banned for two years for a blood doping offence.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) also ruled that all of Ullrich's results since May 1 2005, be annulled.

"The CAS has partially upheld the appeal filed by the UCI (International Cycling Union) and has found Jan Ullrich guilty of a doping offence," news.com.au quoted CAS, as saying.

"As a consequence, Jan Ullrich is sanctioned with a two-year period of ineligibility starting retroactively on August 22, 2011. Furthermore, all results achieved by the athlete on or after May 1, 2005, until his retirement are annulled," he added.

The CAS hearing came after the UCI appealed to the court against the Swiss Olympic Committee's decision to halt a probe into Ullrich's past.

The Swiss Olympic committee had decided not go ahead with Ullrich's probe because he had resigned from the Swiss cycling federation in 2006.

Ullrich was linked to the Operation Puerto scandal in 2006 after samples of his blood were found during a police raid on Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes who was at the centre of a doping ring.

Ullrich, however, has insisted that he is innocent of doping.

Apart from his 1997 Tour win and third place in 2005, Ullrich also finished second in the world's toughest and most prestigious race on five occasions (1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003) and fourth in 2004.

Ullrich's other victories were podium-topping showings in the 1999 Tour of Spain and the 2004 Tour of Switzerland and winning the Olympic gold at the 2000 Sydney Games in the road race and silver in the time-trial. (ANI)