Reactions to T-Mobile decision

By Susan Westemeyer

Linus Gerdemann was the only T-Mobile/High Road rider available for comment Tuesday evening. He learned the news while on Mallorca, training for the upcoming season. "I have to think about the whole thing first," he told the dpa. "Before tomorrow I won't have anything to say."

Patrik Sinkewitz may well be seen as the straw that broke the camel's back, through his extended confessions of doping at T-Mobile as well as elsewhere. "It wasn't a surprise," he said. "In the last time a new beginning was made and some things did change. It is too bad that the sponsor drops out right now."

Rudolf Scharping, head of the German cycling federation, called it "A serious blow for pro cycling in Germany."

"I am surprised by the decision," said Bjarne Riis, who won the Tour de France for Team Telekom in 1996 later confessing to using EPO to win. "Naturally one is a little wistful. Like everyone else in cycling, I had hoped that T-Mobile would continue. But they have their reasons. We have to accept it."

His Team CSC rider, the German Jens Voigt, was concerned for his colleagues. "I can only hope that things go well for the riders and that the cancellation doesn't have any negative effects on cycling. T-Mobile stood until now for cycling. Without Telekom, there would never have been any other German teams."