T-Mobile unveils 2006 rooster in Mallorca

• The T-Mobile Team will go into the 2006 season with 29 professional cyclists.
• For the second ProTour season the Bonn-based team has made some strategic changes.

Bonn 14 January 2006 - Ten riders have departed and twelve new riders join the roster. There is also a change at the team helm: Olaf Ludwig takes over as team manager from Walter Godefroot. The company once more thanked Godefroot sincerely for his work over the years and his contribution to international pro cycling.

Team manager Olaf Ludwig is looking ahead to the first year of the post-Godefroot era with anticipation and great optimism: "We have a good mix of younger riders with potential for the future and experienced pros who will take over responsibility at the big races," Ludwig said at the team presentation in front of about 120 international journalists at the Robinson Club Cala Serena on the Balearic island of Mallorca.

The focus of most of the attention from the photographers and camera crews was on the newcomers to the magenta team: The three-time ITT World Champion Michael Rogers and Scott Davis (both Australia), Lorenzo Bernucci and Eddy Mazzoleni (both Italy), Serhiy Honchar (Ukraine), Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg), Frantisek Rabon (Czech Republic) as well as the German riders Patrik Sinkewitz (2004 Deutschland-Tour winner), Linus Gerdemann, Jörg Ludewig, André Greipel and Thomas Ziegler.

The restructuring of the team is also reflected by the riders' age. Compared to the previous year, the average age dropped slightly to 28.9 years. The youngest rider in the squad is the Czech Rabon at 22, the oldest one is Giuseppe Guerini (Italy, 35).

The season highlight is once again the Tour de France (July 1-23). This year the T-Mobile Team is taking a new approach to selecting its squad for the three-week "Grande Boucle". With captain Jan Ullrich, Andreas Klöden, Rogers, Mazzoleni and Honchar, manager Ludwig named the core of the team for the Tour already before the season kick-off. Ullrich himself also has a key role in the planning process.

"The team will regularly come together to train, race any test out new material," says Olaf Ludwig, who points out that the door to the Tour squad will be open to everyone. "We will track closely the individual  performances of each rider over the course of the season." The Belgian Rudy Pevenage, who re-joined the team as a sporting director will, in association with Ludwig, direct and assume responsibility for the 2006 Tour team's preparations. "If all of our top riders are onboard, we will certainly be a force to be reckoned with at the Tour," stresses the team manager.

Apart from the Tour de France the sporting management's main focus will be on the Deutschland-Tour (August 1-9), the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg (July 30) and the Spring Classics such as the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. The Classics specialists Andreas Klier, Steffen Wesemann and Sergey Ivanov are expected to make their mark in the early season and go in search of wins.

On an organisational level Olaf Luwig has restructured things to meet the significantly higher requirements set by the ProTour. Mario Kummer has been appointed to the new role of sport and technical director, charged with developing and deciding team strategy and logistics, together with the manager. "Operationally, he's my right-hand man," says Ludwig who thinks "Kummer perfectly fits the bill".

The first meeting of the 2006 T-Mobile roster was for a team building session in Montafon (Austrian Alps) last November. Olaf Ludwig believes that the team spirit was greatly boosted by the two and half day experience in the Alps, while team newcomer Jörg Ludewig described the camp as "a very worthwhile effort to foster team cohesion".

The T-Mobile Team get their racing season underway on January 31 already at the Marsellaise GP in southern France. The first ProTour race for the team is at Paris-Nice from March 5-12, before they tackle the "Primavera", Milan-San Remo, on March 18 - the first highlight of the spring season for the Bonn-based team.

You can find more information about the T-Mobile Team in our 2006 T-Mobile Team magazine "Route 06" and all breaking news at www.t-mobile-team.com.

T-Mobile Czech Republic, a member of the international telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, has almost 6.2 million customers, the number-one operator in the Czech market. T-Mobile is an integrated operator: in addition to telecommunications services, it offers comprehensive ICT solutions not only for companies, but also for other organizations and individuals. It provides outstanding services in the high-speed network, which was proved repeatedly by benchmark testing performed by umlaut (former P3) with Best-in-Test seal.

T-Mobile Czech Republic places emphasis on taking a responsible approach to the environment and society. It adheres to fair business practices, helps beneficial applications and services to see the light of day, supports non-profit organizations, small businesses and individuals, and lends a helping hand whenever crisis situations arise. The company’s employees serve as volunteers in many places across the entire Czech Republic.

More information about the company is available at www.t-mobile.cz, www.t-press.cz (the portal for journalists) and www.t-mobile.cz/pomahame (information on the company’s CSR activities).

Contact details of the press unit: press@t-press.cz.