Eisel, T-Mobile and the millionaire

By Susan Westemeyer

Sprinter Bernhard Eisel is taking it easy this fall - that is, if he's not renovating his home or doing some easy training with namesake Bernhard Kohl. But the T-Mobile newcomer will get away for a few days before starting serious training in the middle of November. "The body needs a little break, it doesn't matter if its one day more or less," he told www.sport1.at.

Eisel is impressed with his new team, T-Mobile. The recent team meeting was "just a team meeting, but we had a lot of fun." His overall impression of the team was "Outstanding. Every change is super. How it will really work out, well, we'll see at the start of the season. So far we all get along really well with each other. The T-Mobile Team is simply a little bigger than Française des Jeux."

The Austrian rider will start the season early. "I will give my T-Mobile debut in Qatar. After that come the spring classics. It's not yet set, how it will go beyond that, but my position with the team is good, so I'm not worried." He seems to have found his new boss, manager Bob Stapleton, interesting. "Bob is Bob. As rich as Croesus, but you can't tell it by looking at him. A really nice guy who brings a little American flair into the team, which makes the whole thing even more interesting for us riders. He didn't have so much to do with cycling before, he was just a millionaire, but that got too boring for him."