NOVEMBER 29, 2007

Thought for the day for F1

For those who think that a little scandal is a good idea, it might be worth pointing out that the world of cycling is currently paying a high price for the doping scandals that have beset the sport in recent years. In the last few days Deutsche Telekom has ended its sponsorship of the Neuer Strassen Sport team. This was due to run untilo 2010. Deutsche Telekom has been a cycling sponsor since 1991.

"We have worked very hard with the current team management to promote a clean cycling sport but we reached the decision to continue our efforts to rid all sports of doping by applying our resources in other directions," said Deutsche Telekom board member Hamid Akhavan. "Deutsche Telekom wants to make it clear that this action is not based on any disagreement with or misconduct by team management."

Cycle manufacturer Giant has also announceed that it has ended its involvement with the team and is looking at alternatives.

The news comes a few weeks after Adidas ended its sponsorship of the team as a result of the sport™s continued doping allegations. In September the Germany company Gerolsteiner decided not to extend its sponsorship deal with the cycling team that bears its name and in August Sweden's Unibet.com said it was pulling out of cycling, just a few days after it was announced that the Discovery Channel team would be disbanded at the end of the year because it could not find a new sponsor.

Perhaps the old adage that all publicity is good publicity is not as true as some would have us believe.