Cycling: T-Mobile replace director amid doping crisis

BERLIN - Top German cycling team T-Mobile announced today it would replace sporting director Olaf Ludwig due to "handling of the current doping problems".

T-Mobile's statement came on the day German cycling federation president Rudolf Scharping called for a series of tough measures to combat doping and said the country would have an anti-doping law this year.

"I'm incredibly disappointed," said Ludwig, who was informed of the decision during a race in Hamburg.

He will be replaced by American Bob Stapleton and former German cyclist Rolf Aldag.

The team sacked lead rider Jan Ullrich earlier this month after the 1997 Tour de France winner was implicated in a Spanish doping investigation.

Ullrich, who has denied any wrongdoing, Spanish team mate Oscar Sevilla and sporting director Rudy Pevenage were suspended by T-Mobile on the eve of this year's Tour.

Nine riders in total, were pulled out of the race because of links to the inquiry.

In another blow to the credibility of the Tour, it was revealed last Thursday that winner Floyd Landis had tested positive for testosterone during the race. The American has denied committing a doping offence.

Speaking after a crisis meeting of 25 officials from teams, sponsors and race organisers, Scharping said it was time to catch and punish doctors and other shadowy figures in the background who have helped tarnish cycling's reputation.

"Doping doesn't happen on its own," he said. "We've got to do a better job of getting to the people behind the scenes.

"Everyone has agreed on a number of measures," added Scharping, a former leader of Germany's Social Democrats party.

"It's bad enough that a career like Jan Ullrich's had to end like this.

"What we are most interested in is getting hold of the people in the background, otherwise we won't be able to drain this swamp. We've got to track down the doctors that are behind this," Scharping said.

Landis, 30, tested positive for the male sex hormone after winning stage 17 of the race in the French Alps.

He will ask for a second urine sample to be tested but his lawyer Luis Sanz said they expected the B test to be positive - a result which would strip him of his Tour title and earn a probable two-year ban.

It would be the first time a Tour champion has been disqualified for doping.

Cycling has been blighted by doping but Tour organisers said Landis' test and the pre-race case showed they were cracking down more heavily on transgressors.

The sport has become hugely popular in Germany since Ullrich's Tour victory, but the doping scandals have prompted major networks ARD and ZDF, who cover the Tour de France extensively, to consider whether they will drop it in the future.

- REUTERS