AS THE MONEY TALKS, A BARRED VETERAN JUST LISTENS

PARIS, Jan. 11 - There's no rush to choose a new team, Jan Ullrich keeps
saying, even though training camps are being held everywhere and the first
races of the new bicycle season are just weeks away.

The Tour Down Under begins Jan. 21 in Australia, followed by the start of
the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia and the Tour of Qatar, both on Jan. 31.
Secondary races all, they offer riders a chance to put some kilometers in
their legs in racing conditions, under a hot sun, not the sleet and cold
that mark the early European races.

A nice opportunity, then, for somebody like Ullrich, who has not competed
for nearly a year, to prepare for the long season ahead, especially the
race he mainly cares about, the Tour de France. Ullrich, 29, of Germany,
has recorded one first place there, in 1997, and four seconds, in 1996,
1998, 2000 and 2001.

But he is right about there being no rush. He is barred from racing until
March 23.

That was a result of his conviction last year of a drug offense. Not
steroids or EPO, the sport's props for underwhelming riders, but Ecstasy,
the darling of the rave crowd. He popped a tablet or two during a night on
the town in June, trying, he said, to forget his many problems in 2002.

These included his lost season because of two operations on his right knee,
a drunken driving conviction after another night on the town, a mammoth
fine for that incident and the severing from the Telekom team, the only one
he has raced for in his eight seasons as a professional.

Where to next? Four or five teams would dearly love to have as their leader
a rider who has done so well in the Tour while winning the Vuelta a Espana,
the Olympic road race, the world championship road race for amateurs and
the world championship time trial.

He climbs, he time trials, he wins big races and he is entering what should
be his prime years. On the debit side of the ledger, though, are his weight
problems - a lean off-season for him is a gain of no more than 15 pounds -
his mental fragility, a weak knee and the aura of his being a problem child.

Not to mention money.

In one of his rare public statements this winter, Ullrich said financial
realities would dictate his choice of teams. That was an allusion to his
change of residence from the Black Forest in Germany - a small, simple,
comfy house - to snazzier digs and lenient tax laws in Switzerland.

Ullrich probably made $1.5 million with the German Telekom team, a sum that
rules out such suitors as the Kelme team in Spain, where payday tends to
come a couple of months late, if at all, and one or two unidentified
Italian teams.

Those still in the running, according to Ullrich's agent, Wolfgang
Strohband, are CSC in Denmark and Coast in Germany, Telekom's somewhat
negligible rival because its main riders are past their prime.

"It's the only possible alternative," Strohband said of Coast, attempting
to put pressure on the team that would suit Ullrich best, CSC of Denmark.

On paper, that fit looks good. CSC is managed by Bjarne Riis, a friend from
Telekom and the rider Ullrich helped win the 1996 Tour de France. Unlike
Coast, CSC is manned by young, strong riders, including Tyler Hamilton, the
American who was second in the last Giro d'Italia, who would offer the
required support.

The problem remains the money.

CSC says it is not willing "at any price" to sign Ullrich. "It's true that
we made a good offer to Jan, but apparently it was not good enough," Alex
Pedersen, the team's director, said. Attempts to sign up the Deutsche Post
Bank as a secondary sponsor to pay Ullrich's salary apparently succeeded,
but not extravagantly enough.

Late last week, German and Danish news agencies reported that Coast would
win the bidding.

In a decision late Friday, the sport's world governing body said it would
grant Coast a license to compete in the sport's top events, clearing the
way for Ullrich to join up. The financially troubled team was required to
prove its cash flow was stable to get the license.

The choice of teams will reveal which road Ullrich travels on: big money
with Coast and a career in the shadows or less money with CSC and an
opportunity to remount the peaks.

"In the coming two to three years, I would like to win the races I still
haven't won," Ullrich said, meaning the world championship road race,
perhaps the Giro d'Italia and a major World Cup classic or two.

Meanwhile, he remains surrounded by Strohband, Peter Becker, his longtime
coach, and Rudy Pevenage, his guru at Telekom, who announced last week that
he was leaving the German team to be at Ullrich's side wherever he goes.
(That was taken to mean Coast because Pevenage, a Belgian, speaks fluent
German from his years at Telekom and because CSC, unlike Coast, already has
a handful of proficient coaches.)

They are all skillful and well-meaning people, but enablers. What Ullrich
needs most is a disciplinarian, a fusspot who will say to him: "Jan, don't
eat that, eat this. Jan, don't do that, do this. Jan, don't sign there,
sign here."

Obstinate and, yes, spoiled, Ullrich has never had such a guide, or was
never willing to listen to one as he squandered his talent.

There is no reason to believe that will change so long as money is the main
factor in choosing a team. He promises a decision in the next week.