T-Mobile sign Rogers
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ByEurosport
Published 27/07/2005 at 09:00 GMT
In the wake of Alexandre Vinokourov's departure, T-Mobile have signed promising QuickStep pair Michael Rogers and Patrik Sinkewitz. Although the team manager Olaf Ludwig has labelled the Kazakh as "irreplaceable" he has quickly underlined that "these enga
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Australian rider Rogers, 25, is the current world time trial champion and finished second in this year's Tour of Switzerland, narrowly missing out to Aitor Gonzalez of Euskaltel. 24-year-old Sinkewitz is one of Germany's hopes for the future.
Ludwig announced that the talented duo had been recruited with one eye on next year's Tour.
On Monday, the entire T-Mobile team - including Vinokourov, who will not leave until the end of the season - were welcomed back to their sponsor's Bonn headquarters to celebrate their success during the Tour.
Team leader Jan Ullrich may have missed out on beating Lance Armstrong, but his third place, the team's overall victory, and three stage wins - two for Vino and one for Guiseppe Guerini - was ample return, and worthy of a celebration.
Special tribute was paid to team manager, Walter Godefroot, who leaves the German outfit after almost 15 years in control.
Godefroot said that he would look back on his 32nd tour with pride and satisfaction. He had experienced a "very moving moment" when Vinokourov took the last stage on the Champs Elysées.
"With my heart, I´ll always be with the team," admitted the parting Belgian.
The only key rider missing from the event was 2004 Tour runner-up Andreas Klöden, who was undergoing further tests on his wrist injury at Freiburg.
It emerges that Klöden, who fell heavily at the start of stage 16, will not require surgery on the injury that ended his Tour.
Meanwhile, reports emanating from French sports daily l'Equipe suggest that Vinokourov will be joined at Liberty Seguros by his friend Andriy Kashechkin of Crédit Agricole.
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