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T-Mobile Team: From Joy to Shock

 

 

 

 

 

 

(July 16, 2007) On Saturday night, the T-Mobile Team was on top of the world, toasting the stunning stage victory of young rookie Linus Gerdeman in Stage 7. The 24-year old had won the stage, claimed the white jersey of the best young rider, and also grabbed the coveted maillot jaune as race leader. He’d catapulted the men in magenta into the lead in the team classification as well.

   But in the space of 24-hours, the jubilation over capturing the yellow jersey, the white jersey, and the team prize turned to disbelief and incredulity at losing two riders to freak crashes. The first involved team captain Mick Rogers who at that point had moved into the virtual yellow jersey on the road, while riding the race of his life. The other involved Patrick Sinkewitz who collided with a spectator while returning to the team hotel in the valley. Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish withdrew early on the stage on the back of crashes suffered earlier in the week.   The team has been hit hard and there was an obvious sense of shock at the team's rest day press conference in Val d'Isere on Monday. However, the motivation of the remaining six to keep on attacking was unbroken. "We have experienced all the highs and lows of cycling in the past 24 hours, but the team sprit is still intact and we will do everything to continue bringing excitement to this race", said team boss Bob Stapleton.   Following Linus Gerdemann's stage winning heroics on Saturday, the young German has suddenly been thrown into the spotlight. However, the team management is keen not to take the pressure off Gerdemann and not overburden him with the role of team captain in the absence of Mick Rogers. "We must not forget that Linus is a 24-year old rookie and he doesn't have the experience needed to step into the role of captain," said sporting director Rolf Aldag.   Following Sunday's triple-whammy, the team has had to go re-align tactically, with the vastly experienced Axel Merckx stepping into the role of captain. The 34 year old Belgian, who is in his ninth Tour, will be the new leader on the road. "Tactically we will take things on a day to day basis from now on, just playing it by ear between now and Paris," said Aldag.   Bob Stapleton described he team's current situation as “difficult” and said that it will now be a great moral challenge for the team to go forward. "You can't just push aside these high and lows. After celebrating Linus Gerdemann's yellow jersey, we now find ourselves hit hard by bad luck and we have real worries. We send out best wishes to the injured spectator who is lying in a coma and hope he recovers."   The injured spectator, a 79 year old Luxembourger, is now in a stable condition, while Sinkewitz is also doing well. His team mate and Tour room mate Marcus Burghardt was particularly affected by the accident. While struggling to get to yesterday's summit finish inside the time limit, he spotted Sinkewitz sprawled across the road. "It was very hard moment for me as I couldn't risk missing the time limit. I had to assume that it wouldn't be anything serious and help would arrival quickly on the scene," said Burghardt, who telephoned his roommate last night to give him encouragement. "Sinki was very downbeat and apologized that he could no longer help the team.   T-Mobile is now down to just six riders and no one knows how long rookies like Gerdemann or Burghardt can withstand the harsh demands of the Tour. "I'll try everything I can without jeopardizing my chances of finishing the race. Right now we need to lift our morale and fight. I have faith in our team," said white jersey wearer Gerdemann.   In conclusion Stapleton said that he couldn't expect any more from his chances. "The guys have performed superbly till now. I have no worries about our future. We're happy about what we've achieved so far. I am not going to put pressure on the riders to perform; they will take over that responsibility themselves. If they arrive in Paris, I'll be the first to congratulate them."      
Most of this report was taken from Gerald Lynne's account found at:
www.t-mobile-team.com

16 July 2007