April 4, 2007 A DNA sample taken from former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich has been matched to bags of blood found during the Spanish Operacion Puerto anti-doping investigation last May, according to the Associated Press (AP).

"We found nine blood samples that we were able to compare with the blood samples," Friedrich Apostel, the investigating prosecutor in Bonn, told the AP. "We were able to establish the identity of Ullrich."

The 33-year-old cyclist became the first German to win the Tour de France when he finished with the yellow jersey in 1997. He came in second five times and was often considered to be seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong’s strongest competition. In 2003 he finished about a minute behind Armstrong.

The T-Mobile team dropped Ullrich on the eve of last year’s Tour de France after he and several dozen top cyclists were implicated with allegations of doping.

Ullrich announced his retirement from cycling in February, delivering a 43-minute monologue in which he accused the International Cycling Union (UCI) of jumping to conclusions in Operacion Puerto.

Ullrich has repeatedly denied using any banned substances.

His lawyer, Peter-Michael Diestel, said that the blood bags do not prove doping.

"Assuming that everything is true that is now being reported, that's a long way from showing the blood was used for doping reasons," Diestel told the AP.

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