Ullrich- €10 million over 3 years?
It is being reported here that Coast has tentatively proposed a contract with Jan Ullrich which would pay him €10 million over 3 years. Coast refuses to acknowledge the figure. The offer would only become official if Coast is listed in the top 10 by UCI, thus guaranteeing their slots in the big three tours. The rankings are due out next week and depend partly on an evaluation of Coast's finances.
The number popped up in an interview with Bjarn Riis at CSC-Tiscali, who said that he had heard of the Coast offer through the grapevine. Riis said that he was not willing to spend any more effort on Ullrich, by which he meant that he had made an offer and was waiting for Ullrich's response. Riis stated that his offer was certainly lower than the alleged Coast offer. He said he could not justifying paying that kind of money for someone who has not ridden a race in over 6 months. He also acknowledged that he was unable to dig up an additional sponsor to pay Ullrich higher wages.
The Ullrich camp has said that it will make a decision around 15 January. But, first we have to see where Coast places on the list.
Cheers,
Jamie
P.S. Rudi Pevenge has also said that he will leave Telekom to go with Ullrich.