Sprinter Erik Zabel — the winningest active pro with 191 race victories — has announced he's leaving Germany's T-Mobile cycling team. Zabel is interviewed on T-Mobile's website.
It's the second recent defection from the team; Alexandre Vinokourov quit T-Mobile for Liberty Segurous last week.
The defections might be caused by some apparent mishandling of personalities leading up to and during the Tour de France.
In 2005, T-Mobile put itself behind 1997 Tour champion Jan Ullrich in an attempt to beat Lance Armstrong in his last Tour de France. When it came time to pick the team for the Tour, Zabel — with 13 years on the team and six green TDF jerseys — was left off the roster. Vino was given a supporting role.
In a T-Mobile press release, Zabel said that had nothing to do with his final decision. “It was difficult for me, but I was eventually able to put that behind me.”
As it turned out, Vinokourov won two stages, including the finale in Paris, and Ullrich battled back to achieve third place against a rider, Mickael Rasmussen, who fell twice in the penultimate stage.
Next question; what's to happen with Andreas Kloden? Although ill early this season and never back in full form, will this T-Mobile rider who finished on the podium behind Lance two years ago be satisfied with supporting Ullrich next year?
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