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T-MOBILE cycle team socializing at CLS!
The German professional cycle team T- MOBILE was here week for a sports camp. |
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It is part of their preparations for the coming season. About half of the team was here and their most important goal: socializing. They came with 15 cyclists, the sports psychologist, the team physiotherapist and the medical doctor. All of them were led by the new sports director Rolf Aldag. Until the end of 2005 Rolf had been cycling for
T-MOBILE for 13 years himself. Now he has taken over a responsible role as sport manager. He has been at CLS many times already. A few weeks ago he was here to guide the CLS International Bike Weeks.
Compared to 2006, the team has changed a lot, because it has 13 new bikers and new managers. Rolf thought CLS would be a good place for his team to get to know each other. “The idea is not only to train here but also to socialize, as there are a few new members in the team. With all the different sport facilities you can do here besides cycling this is the perfect place to get to know each other. During this stay it is not that important for them to improve as a cyclist, but they should improve as a team member. They have been sharing an apartment with 8 people here, all riders with different nationalities. This way everybody got to know their new team mates. And so far it looks like it works.” |
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Rolf thinks they have a good mix between young, hungry and experienced riders this season. Some of them can do very well in the classics, like Lorenzo Bernucci. “He is a really string rider and his body is used to a lot of races and a lot of pressure. And some riders are important to support the young riders. “From Guiseppe Guerini for example I expect that he brings all his knowledge and experience to the young riders, because we have really young people. He needs to take care of them.” So the team consists of a mixture of cyclists. “Now we have to build a team.”
During their week at Club La Santa they cycled for about 3 to 4 hours a day, with a maximum of 4,5 hours. “This is long enough, because it is not easy to bike here. It is up and down all the time.” Besides the cycling they did all different kinds of sports and activities. “For example we had swimming lessons, because one of our trainers is also a swimming coach. We also played football and basketball. It didn't really matter what we did, as long as it were social things to be done in a team.”
But T-Mobile team has not only new riders and a new management: it is also characterized by a new philosophy. Recently the magenta team has announced a new approach to cycling after a succession of doping scandals left its reputation tarnished. A smaller budget, more testing, and an absence of big name stars are the main new strategies. Rolf: “We need more tests and need to be more open. We are not hiding. We always have to have control about our team. That is really important for us.”
Because of this ´clean cyclism´ as they call it, the team has many new rules. “We started using a new test for example, a blood valium test. Important is that all the tests will be done by external experts, and not by our own doctors who could keep back information. |
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Whatever the external doctors figure out, they can make it public.” The contract of the cyclists also contains strict rules and consequences about the use of doping. “If someone is tested positive, we will not only end the contract, but we also have created something called ´regret´. That means that you also have to pay back your earned money to the team. Because so far it was ´only´ the risk of ruining your career but then the cyclist had still earned his money. This way they have more to lose.” Finally the cyclists also have to do a DNA test. “So we can always make sure whose blood was tested positively. Legally it is not so easy, but everybody agreed on it and signed the contract so that was no problem.”
The T-Mobile is the first team who implements these strict rules. They hope that in the end other teams within the Pro tour are willing to impose themselves to the same rules. “But the thing is, if you always wait for the others, nothing will change anyway”, explains Rolf. “If you want to have quick changes everybody has to start on his own team first of all. For sure we want to push the International Cycling Union and also the organizers of the big races like the Tour de France. We would like them to use the same rules, because they also got the power to apply new rules.”
The team has been training and socializing here until today. Rolf was satisfied with the way things were going during the sports camp. “The atmosphere in the group is pretty good. They are enjoying their time here. Also because they don't have any stress and they are not seen as big stars here.” |
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Hopefully this week of socializing has helped to build a team. We wish Rolf and his team all the luck this season. We hope they are able to ride offensive and can enthuse the fans, like Rolf would like to see this season.
Good luck and we would like to welcome you all again next year!
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