I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France.

Jan Ullrich: The Best There Never Was PEZ Bookshelf: Jan Ullrich: The Best There Never Was

And, the author did I think succeed in treating the ongoing, and often tragic, story of Ullrich with empathy. He was a Scottish champion cyclist himself - many years and kilograms ago - and still owns a Klein Attitude, Dura Ace carbon Giant and a Fixie. Though I would have hoped to ask him more, the interview had to be kept light and easy-going at his request.Only one man prevented Jan Ullrich from becoming the most dominant Tour de France bike racer in modern Lance Armstrong. At the same time a fascinating look at the pervasive doping culture in cycling in the 1990s-2000s, East Germany's sports (and drugs) programme and the consequences of our eagerness to put people on pedestals only to tear them down again once they disappoint us. Friebe brings you on his journalistic journey interviewing those close to Ulrich, something I really enjoyed since you get to feel the interviewee's awe, regret, discomfort, even hostility at times.

Jan Ullrich: The road to redemption – Rouleur Jan Ullrich: The road to redemption – Rouleur

Still, it wasn’t until 2013 before he came clean, admitting his performance-enhancing drug habit assisted by Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, Ullrich was also named on the covered-up list of EPO positives going back to the 1998 Tour. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. But to paraphrase the title of that Jack Nicholson film, that was, ‘As Good as it Got,’ for Ullrich.And of course, there’s the other ‘stuff’ – Ullrich’s addictions to alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, sex; and most damaging of all, for a man whose job involves riding a bicycle up mountains – food. Since then, major publishing house Future PLC has owned the site and expanded it to include top features, news, results, photos and tech reporting. Friebe is one the presenters of the Cycling Podcast and has been working as a journalist in cycling for two decades.