Ullrich won the 1997 Tour de France

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich has resumed racing after being sidelined for 15 months by a drugs ban and injuries.

The German rider returned to competition on 8 April in the five-stage Circuit de la Sarthe in France.

Ullrich had been suspended until 23 March after testing positive for amphetamines.

The 29-year-old said he failed the test after taking pills at a nightclub while suffering from depression following two knee operations.

The 1997 Tour de France winner is regarded as the only rider capable of beating four times Tour winner Lance Armstrong in the the world's greatest cycle race.

He joined the Germany's Team Coast in January after parting company with Team Telekom.

Team Coast had its licence returned on 19 March after it was withdrawn temporarily over non-payment of riders' wages.

Ullrich told French sports newspaper L'Equipe: "I'm eager to be reunited with the peloton, to feel again the atmosphere of the race... to rejoin my family.

"When the sanction was imposed, I thought it was the end.

"I wanted to stop my career. I didn't see the point of carrying on fighting, I didn't want to cycle any more."

Ullrich said he decided not to quit at the end of last summer.

"I thought about what I wanted to do with my life and things finally fell into place," he said.

"I pulled myself together. My knee was not a problem any more".