Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich, still fighting doping allegations, has quit the Swiss cycling federation and is looking for another racing licence for next year.

Ullrich said on his website Thursday that he was leaving Swiss Cycling because of what he called its ``slanderous attitude'' toward him.

``(This) doesn't mean that I am ending my career. There are contacts to other cycling federations about a licence for 2007,'' he said.

Ullrich _ who is from Germany _ lives in Switzerland and has been racing with a Swiss Cycling licence.

He won the Tour de France in 1997 and was a five-time runner-up to American Lance Armstrong. Ullrich was excluded from this year's race after being linked to a list of cyclists who allegedly had contact with a Spanish doctor accused of running a blood-doping clinic in Madrid.

Ullrich, who was fired by his German team T-Mobile, has consistently denied any wrongdoing. He has accused Swiss Cycling of waging a ``media campaign'' against him for months.

© The Canadian Press, 2007