Jan Ullrich has cast doubts over his return to the sport after receiving a six-month ban for amphetamine abuse in a German nightclub. Speaking to German newspaper Bild, the Telekom rider made his feelings clear.

“I don’t know if I will ever cycle again. I don’t know if I can motivate myself again. And whether my knee cooperates, only the future can tell.”

Ullrich has not competed since January and missed the spring classics and Tour de France due to knee trouble and a subsequent operation. In June he was suspended from driving for a year after crashing his Porsche into a bike stand after consuming three times the legal limit of alcohol.

Ullrich is seen by many as Lance Armstrong’s only real competitor in the Tour de France and was sorely missed this July when the American began his title defence. Since winning the Tour in 1997 at the tender age of 21, Ullrich has finished a runner up on three occasions.