Gerolsteiner to quit sponsoring cycling team after 2008 season

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/09/2007 (6909 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – The T-Mobile cycling team has fired rider Lorenzo Bernucci after his positive doping test at the Tour of Germany last month.

Bernucci violated the team’s code of conduct and was removed from T-Mobile’s roster at Vuelta de Espana, the team said Tuesday. The rider tested positive for a non-amphetamine appetite suppressant. The firing came the same day the German mineral water company Gerolsteiner announced it was quitting sponsoring its cycling team after the 2008 season.

Gerolsteiner cited a change in marketing strategy – not a rash of recent doping scandals – as the reason.

Bernucci rides with a licence issued by the Monaco cycling federation, which will be responsible for further investigation and possible additional sanctions, T-Mobile said.

The rider returned a positive sample Aug. 15 for the substance sibutramine, an appetite suppressant sold under various brand names, such as Reductil and Ectiva. The world governing body of cycling, UCI, informed T-Mobile of Bernucci’s positive test.

Bernucci told team management that he had been using Ectiva for four years and had purchased it over the counter at a pharmacy in Italy, not knowing it been added to the list of prohibited substances by the World Anti-Doping Agency, T-Mobile said.

According to UCI rules, a first violation for sibutramine – if it is determined that it was not intended as a performance enhancer – can result in anything between a warning and a one-year suspension.

“We do not know if this was an attempt at performance enhancement or just poor judgment,” T-Mobile team chief Bob Stapleton said. “But we know it is unacceptable that riders take any medication without the approval of the team doctor. It’s a clear violation of our code of conduct and we act now on that basis.”

T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz tested positive for elevated testosterone levels during training before the Tour of France in June and was fired. He admitted he had rubbed his arm with a testosterone gel called Testogel.

That came on top of several doping confessions by former Telekom riders, including the’96 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis. T-Mobile previously went under the name Telekom. The German company began its cycling sponsorship in’91.

While T-Mobile decided last month to remain the name sponsor of the team, cycling in Germany suffered another blow Tuesday when Gerolsteiner announced its withdrawal.

Gerolsteiner has invested some nine million euros (C$12.9 million) annually in the team, which includes Italian star Davide Rebellin and German riders Stefan Schumacher, Fabian Wegmann, Markus Fothen and Robert Foerster. The company has been a cycling sponsor since’98.

Gerolsteiner said Tuesday it was no longer reaching its targeted audience through cycling as it is shifting from being solely a producer of mineral water to a supplier of non-alcoholic beverages.

“The recent doping occurrences are not the reason for the decision by Gerolsteiner,” the company said in a statement.

The team’s is managed by Hans-Michael Holczer, who is expected to seek new sponsors.

Although Holczer is one of cycling’s strongest anti-doping campaigners, his team has not been spared its share of scandals.

Gerolsteiner fired rider Danilo Hondo in 2005 after a positive test, while the team’s sporting director Christien Henn was one of former Telekom riders who admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs in the’90s. Another team official, Udo Boelts, quit after admitting being another of Telekom riders with a doping past.

Cycling’s image has been tarnished lately by a series of doping scandals, including riders testing positive for banned substances at this year’s Tour de France. Germany’s two public television stations stopped broadcasting the race because of doping cases.