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)