T-Mobile, the mobile-phone division of German telecommunications
giant Deutsche Telekom, said Tuesday it was ending its sponsorship
of a major cycling team after a succession of doping scandals.
"We came to this decision to separate our brand from further
exposure from doping in sport and cycling specifically. This was a
difficult decision given our long history of support for
professional cycling and the efforts of Bob Stapleton in managing
the team in 2007," T-Mobile boss Hamid Akhavan said in a
statement.
"We have worked very hard with the current team management to
promote a clean cycling sport but we reached the decision to
continue our efforts to rid all sports of doping by applying our
resources in other directions," Akhavan said.
T-Mobile, formerly known as Telekom, is one of the leading teams
in the sport and rose to fame in the peloton thanks notably to the
achievements of Jan Ullrich, Erik Zabel and Bjarne Riis.
However, the team has been rocked in recent years by allegations
that its cyclists used drugs, including the banned blood-booster
EPO (erythropoietin).
In the midst of damaging revelations made by a former team
physio, Riis and Zabel admitted earlier this year to drug use early
in their careers.
Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner and still the only
German to win the yellow jersey, retired last year under a cloud of
suspicion due to his alleged implication in the Spanish doping
scandal, Operation Puerto.
Stapleton, the team's American manager, was brought on board
earlier this season in a bid to rebuild the team from scratch, with
much emphasis on a zero-tolerance anti-doping culture.
He said Tuesday the team would continue to compete under a new
name, Team High Road.
"We hope to go forward independently with the team to achieve
our goals of continued competitive success and being a leader in
anti-doping efforts in professional cycling," Stapleton said.
T-Mobile sacked its highest profile rider, Ullrich, in July 2006
amid allegations he was involved in the Operation Puerto affair,
which snared the likes of Italy's top cyclist, Ivan Basso.
However, this season has proved most damaging for Germany's top
team.
A former Telekom team physio, Jef d'Hont, alleged in two books
that he injected Ullrich with the banned blood-booster
erythropoietin (EPO).
His allegations led to doping confessions from German sprint
star Zabel and Denmark's 1996 Tour winner Riis. Ullrich has retired
from cycling but continues to protest his innocence.
More recently, T-Mobile sacked up-and-coming German rider Patrik
Sinkewitz in July this year after abnormal levels of testosterone
were found in his blood. Sinkewitz was given a one-year ban this
month and has since admitted using drugs throughout most of his
career.
T-Mobile had said in August it would continue to sponsor the
team bearing its name until 2010 to give the "consistency and
stability the sport greatly needs", but has now decided to end its
16-year association with professional cycling with immediate
effect.
(AFP via China Daily November 29, 2007)