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by Claudia Beckford
The T-Mobile team was first created in 1991 as a professional road cycling team which was at that moment sponsored by Deutsche Telekom but a few years later the name was changed to T-Mobile. The group has been part of major classic races such as: Tour de France and Il Giro d'Italia as well as the UCI Pro Tour.
During the early beginning back in 1993 the Telekom team raised to the top of the cycling world and remained in that privileged position for about 11 years; in both local races and international presentations specially the Tour de France. Among some of the most successful team riders that were part of the team's Golden Age we can mention; team leader Jan Ullrich, Georg Totschnig, Alexander Vinokourov, Cadel Evans, and Santiago Botero
A most controversial situation took place during the 2006 Tour de France when several riders were implicated and taken out from the competition due a doping scandal which dated from many previous years and which shadowed the sport of cycling as well as the favourite stars such as the German Jan Ullrich; Tour de France winner and Olympics medallist. Ullrich was then fired from the team and banned from any competitions due to his involvement with illegal substances.
Only one year later Jan Ullrich publicly ended all kind of speculations and announced his retirement on February 26, 2007.
On the other hand, we have cycling Dutch team Rabobank which was founded 1996. The team has been a very successful cycling force in the Dutch national championships such as: the Elite Road Race, Cyclo-cross and the Mountain Bike races and in international classics like: Amstel Gold Race, Paris-Tours, Milan-San Remo, Tour de France and Vuelta de España. (Spanish Vuelta).
Nevertheless, doping has also been present in the team's history as most recently one the team's main cyclists – mountain climber Michael Rasmussen – was involved in the Spanish Doping scandal therefore; he was removed from the 2007 Tour de France competition despite wearing the yellow jersey.
Rabobank's manager Theo de Rooij did state at the time that there had been several internal team codes violations on behalf of the cyclist nicknamed "The Chicken"; as he was required to take some tests but he did not show up to the appointments therefore, they had decided to end his contract. At first Rasmussen strongly denied any type of wrong doing but later on admitted some of the charges.
After all the previous uproar not only at T-Mobile or Rabobank but most of the cycling teams; the cycling authorities have initiated a strong anti-doping campaign and have decided to deny the entry of several well known teams such as: Astana, Crédit Agricole, Bouygues and High Road (former T-Mobile) to world class competitions such as; Il Giro. This in order to push the teams to restore their reputation as well as to be more strict with the riders' background and the day-a-day checkups.
From this point forward there is a bumpy road ahead for the cycling discipline but if that is what it takes to restore the credibility in the sport we must then embrace the new regulations and prepare for the new generation of athletes.
Claudia Beckford provides outstanding Pro Tour Cycling content as well as information in the sports betting industry. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.
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