T-Mobile Stays as Cycling Sponsor Even After Scandals
10/08/2007 |
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Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile unit will carry on its $18 million-a-year backing of a Tour de France cycling team even after five doping scandals in three weeks blighted this year's race.
Europe's largest phone company will continue its 16-year association with the squad after a two-week review, Christian Frommert, a spokesman for T-Mobile, said at a televised news conference in Saarbruecken today.
Sponsors spend $100 million backing Tour de France teams. Cofidis SA, a French consumer-credit company, is among other companies reviewing their backing.
``Pulling out would send the wrong signal, it would torpedo the fight for a clean sport,'' Frommert said. ``We want to take the sport back to the mainstream.''
T-Mobile announced its review after rider Patrik Sinkewitz failed a drugs test, prompting German television channels ARD and ZDF to suspend coverage midway through the race.
Sinkewitz later confessed to using a banned gel to boost his testosterone level. The hormone helps strengthen muscle fibers. Sinkewitz was fired by the T-Mobile team July 31.
The team's 1996 and 1997 Tour de France winners, Bjarne Riis and Jan Ullrich, were embroiled in doping scandals the last 18 months. Riis, who now manages the CSC team, in May became the first Tour winner to confess to doping. Ullrich quit in February after being linked to a blood-doping ring in May 2006. He said allegations against him were wrong.
Cofidis Withdrew
At this year's Tour, leader Michael Rasmussen was fired by his Rabobank team because of a dispute after he missed doping controls and Astana's pre-race favorite Alexander Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping. Both deny cheating.
The Cofidis team withdrew after rider Cristian Moreni tested positive for an abnormal level of testosterone. He admitted to doping. Iban Mayo of the Saunier Duval team tested positive for blood-boosting hormone erythropoietin, or EPO. Mayo couldn't be reached for comment.
In July 2006, T-Mobile renewed its sponsorship of the team through 2010 only after replacing the squad's management and naming the former vice-chairman of its U.S. unit, Bob Stapleton, as team manager.
``T-Mobile believes that sport should be kept clean, and will actively play a role in helping restore cycling's credibility,'' the company said in a statement at the time.
`Fight Against Doping'
Team riders will give an unspecified part of their salary to ``the fight against doping,'' with T-Mobile topping up the donations to 1 million euros ($1.37 million), Frommert told today's news conference.
Among Deutsche Telekom's other sports sponsorships are Bayern Munich, Germany's most successful soccer team, and the country's national soccer association.
Germany's government owns about 32 percent of Deutsche Telekom. The T-Mobile unit provides wireless services in 11 European countries and the U.S.
(Source: Bloomberg.com)
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