Dusseldorf - The former boss of the Coast cycling team was on Wednesday ordered by a German court to pay Jan Ullrich 340,000 euros (432,000 dollars) plus interest for failing to honour outstanding wages due to the now retired cyclist.

Guenther Dahms refused to pay Ullrich the money due to him because he was of the opinion the 1997 Tour de France winner was doped during his time with the Coast team.

"It is good that truth won out. It was easy for me today, telling the truth is always easy," said Ullrich after the verdict from a court in Dusseldorf.

Ullrich explained that when he joined Coast at the beginning of 2003 he wasn't using "any banning doping substances or methods."

The 34-year-old stated under oath that he had not doped between January and March 2003, leaving him open to a prison sentence of at least a year if the contrary is proven at a later stage.

Last April, Bonn prosecutors ceased an investigation into whether Ullrich committed fraud against his former T-Mobile team.

However, a Hamburg court is still investigating claims made by molecular biologist Werner Franke that Ullrich paid money for doping substances to Eufemiano Fuentes, the Spanish doctor at the centre of the Operacion Puerto doping scandal. Ullrich denies the claim. (dpa)