Sep 27, 2006, 15:14 GMT
Berlin - Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich would be given a licence to ride next season by Swiss Cycling if he applies for one, the federation's boss is quoted as saying in a German report Wednesday.
Lorenz Schlaefli told the weekly Sport Bild that Ullrich could race next year 'if he has a team.'
Ullrich has to apply to the Swiss federation for a licence as he lives in the Swiss town of Scherzingen.
A Swiss suspension for Ullrich previously appeared to be certain in view of the Spanish investigation linking him and other riders with doping.
But Swiss Cycling has heard nothing from the world cycling federation UCI after last month returning documents on the investigation by Spanish police into the Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.
Schlaefi said there had been no progress in the affair and Swiss Cycling had heard nothing about the state of the investigation.
'For disciplinary proceedings or a charge I need authenticated documents. That is Swiss law,' Schlaefli said.
'But nothing has happened. If the UCI does not help us the affair is settled. At the moment in Switzerland we have no doping case, and no rider with a Swiss licence is being investigated.'
Ullrich could have problems finding a new team in view of an ethics code in which teams have agreed not to sign up riders under doping suspicion.
However, the German rider believes he would find a team if the Swiss federation does not suspend him.
Ullrich was dismissed by the T-Mobile team on July 20 in the wake of the Spanish doping probe, however he has maintained his innocence.
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