DUESSELDORF, Germany — Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich won a court ruling to get back unpaid salary after testifying Wednesday that he never took performance-enhancing drugs while he rode the Coast team at the start of 2003.

Ullrich testified in a court hearing of his lawsuit against the then-manager of the Coast team, Guenther Dahms, who has refused to pay Ullrich's salary because he believes the German rider had been doping.

"I did not use any forbidden doping materials or methods banned under regulations during that period," Ullrich said of the time between January and March 2003, when he rode for Coast.

The court ruled in Ullrich's favor and ordered Dahms to pay the retired rider $433,400, plus interest, in back wages.

Ullrich, who won the Tour de France in 1997, has always denied doping, although several of his former teammates from Team Telekom have admitted using drugs. Ullrich retired in February 2007 after being linked to the Spanish blood-doping scandal.