Ullrich faces doping hearing

Berlin - Germany's retired former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich is to be the subject of a disciplinary procedure by the Swiss anti-doping commission, Tuesday's edition of German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) revealed.

Gerhard Walter, president of the Swiss Olympic Committee's disciplinary anti-doping commission, told the paper that they had been asked to open an enquiry into the 35-year-old.

"I can confirm that we have received a request from the Swiss Antidoping Foundation (ADS) and for that reason we have launched a disciplinary procedure," said Walter.

Ullrich won the 1997 Tour de France and was a multiple runner-up behind American seven-time winner Lance Armstrong before retiring from cycling after being sacked by his T-Mobile team in 2006.

His dismissal was due to his alleged links with Eufemiano Fuentes, the Spanish doctor at the centre of the Puerto drugs affair.