Ullrich Allegations

In an interview with former Telekom masseur Jef d'Hont, whose memoirs led to a string of high-profile doping confessions earlier this year, the Belgian says Pevenage told him Ullrich used Erythropoietin (EPO) in 1996 "because everyone else was".

D'Hont is set to publish a second book early next year after his first book claimed he saw 1997 Tour winner Ullrich being injected with EPO.

Ullrich, 33, retired from cycling in February after he was sacked in July 2006 by T-Mobile, who changed their name from Deutsche Telekom in 2004.

The German has always denied doping even when pockets of his blood were found in the cabinet of Eufemiano Fuentes, the Spanish doctor whose doping network was dismantled by Operation Puerto last year.

Allegations of Ullrich doping pile-up

D'Hont told a nightly German TV news program in June that there was no doubt Ullrich used banned substances. He also urged the 1997 Tour de France winner to come clean.

The allegations about doping during Team Telekom's glory years in the mid-1990s weren't new. But they did increase the pressure on Ullrich as the only major rider from the team at that time not to have admitted using banned substances.

"With one hundred percent certainty, Jan took EPO and human growth hormones," d'Hont told the TV news show "Tagesthemen," one of the most-watched programs of its kind in Germany. "Like Bjarne Riis, Rolf Aldag and the other members of the team, Jan has to admit how it was."

Since D'Hont, who worked for Team Telekom from 1992 to 1996, first made his accusations, a number of former Telekom stars, including 1996 Tour de France winner Riis, have admitted using substances like EPO, which increases red-blood cell production. Two team doctors have also confessed to administering the drugs.