By Agence France Presse
German telecommunications company T-Mobile announced on Saturday that it wants to withdraw its sponsorship of the Tour de France’s television coverage in Germany in a damage-limitation exercise.
Cyling’s image in Germany has been rocked by several high-profile doping admissions from cyclists competing for the former Team Telekom, now known as Team T-Mobile, and the company is keen to prevent any further damage to its image.
But German state broadcasters ARD/ZDF do not want to accept the withdrawal of the Bonn-based team, according to an article to appear in Monday’s edition of Der Spiegel.
T-Mobile paid 1 million euros for the right to have its name appear at the beginning of each transition – “The Tour de France is brought to you by T-Mobile” – but bosses fear this year’s race will be blighted by further scandal.
Now T-Mobile wants the money to be transferred to the national anti-doping agency.
The German company’s fears are not unreasonable, even though it sponsors one of the Tour’s main teams. Former soigneur Jef d’Hont’s recently published memoirs have led to a string of stunning confessions from former team riders.
Just last week Denmark’s Bjarne Riis was stripped of his 1996 Tour de France victory after the former Telekom cyclist admitted he took performance-enhancing drugs during the race.
And T-Mobile has decided not to select its Ukrainian time-trial specialist Serhiy Honchar for next month’s Tour following a suspicious blood test last month.
Plus, one of Germany’s top cycling stars, Erik Zabel, admitted last month he had taken banned blood-boosting drug EPO (erythropoietin) in 1996 while competing for Team Telekom.
That same day, Rolf Aldag, Zabel’s former Telekom colleague, now manager of the T-Mobile squad, confessed taking doping products between 1995 and 2002.
Pellizotti wins Pantani Memorial
Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) won the fourth edition of the Pantani Memorial on Saturday.
Pellizotti completed the 176km race from Cesenatico to Cesena in just over 4 hours and 17 minutes to edge out fellow Italian Luca Mazzanti (Ceramica Panaria), who also finished second last year.
Pasquale Muto (Miche), another Italian, was third.
The Pantani Memorial honors Marco Pantani, the Italian cyclist who died of a cocaine overdose in 2004. Regarded as one of the best climbers of all time, Pantani won the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia in 1998.
2007 Pantani Memorial
1. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas, 176km in 4:17:15
2. Luca Mazzanti (I), Ceramica Panaria, s.t.
3. Pasquale Muto (I), Miche, at 0:38
4. Jure Golcer (Slo), Tenax, at 0:50
5. Massimo Giunti (I), Miche, s.t.