Here's an interesting snippet from the German paper Spiegel... Hincapie was the straw that broke T-Mobile?
The alliance between Stapleton and Telekom failed because of a misunderstanding over how Stapleton was to deal with the doping issue. While executives in Bonn were constantly reading headlines equating the name of the company with doping, Stapleton insisted that his job was to work on the future and not constantly revisit the past.
In keeping with this philosophy, Stapleton had no qualms about signing fellow American George Hincapie for the coming season. Hincapie, 34, was Lance Armstrong's trusted lieutenant during his series of Tour victories. In 2005, the tall American won the most difficult mountain stage of the Tour, even though he had never excelled as a mountain specialist before. For Telekom, Hincapie was just another image problem, a time bomb because he probably knows a great deal about Armstrong's miraculous trail of victories. But for Stapleton he was a solid rider with a clean record who was willing to conform to the team's anti-doping policies. Despite the company's attempts to convince him to change his mind, Stapleton insisted on hiring Hincapie.
The rift between Stapleton and Telekom had become so wide that the separation had to be painstakingly negotiated. On Nov. 6, the company's board of directors decided to examine ways to get rid of Stapleton immediately. The simplest approach was not an option. Although Stapleton's contract with Telekom included an exit clause, it only applied to a current doping case, of which there were none in November. Stapleton apparently insisted on being paid the full salary to which he would have been entitled until his contract expired: €45 million.
His attorneys hired detectives to interview former riders and company employees in an attempt to obtain incriminating material against Telekom. Their goal was to find out whether Telekom had secretly known about -- and covered up -- widespread doping in the 1990s. But they turned up empty-handed.
Stapleton took his time -- a full three weeks -- before finally signing an agreement with Telekom to dissolve his contract. In the end, the former partners were practically at each other's throats." Officials at Telekom refused to comment on the cost of the separation, but it is likely to have been in the neighborhood of €20-25 million -- a hefty sum to avoid bad publicity.
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The alliance between Stapleton and Telekom failed because of a misunderstanding over how Stapleton was to deal with the doping issue. While executives in Bonn were constantly reading headlines equating the name of the company with doping, Stapleton insisted that his job was to work on the future and not constantly revisit the past.
In keeping with this philosophy, Stapleton had no qualms about signing fellow American George Hincapie for the coming season. Hincapie, 34, was Lance Armstrong's trusted lieutenant during his series of Tour victories. In 2005, the tall American won the most difficult mountain stage of the Tour, even though he had never excelled as a mountain specialist before. For Telekom, Hincapie was just another image problem, a time bomb because he probably knows a great deal about Armstrong's miraculous trail of victories. But for Stapleton he was a solid rider with a clean record who was willing to conform to the team's anti-doping policies. Despite the company's attempts to convince him to change his mind, Stapleton insisted on hiring Hincapie.
The rift between Stapleton and Telekom had become so wide that the separation had to be painstakingly negotiated. On Nov. 6, the company's board of directors decided to examine ways to get rid of Stapleton immediately. The simplest approach was not an option. Although Stapleton's contract with Telekom included an exit clause, it only applied to a current doping case, of which there were none in November. Stapleton apparently insisted on being paid the full salary to which he would have been entitled until his contract expired: €45 million.
His attorneys hired detectives to interview former riders and company employees in an attempt to obtain incriminating material against Telekom. Their goal was to find out whether Telekom had secretly known about -- and covered up -- widespread doping in the 1990s. But they turned up empty-handed.
Stapleton took his time -- a full three weeks -- before finally signing an agreement with Telekom to dissolve his contract. In the end, the former partners were practically at each other's throats." Officials at Telekom refused to comment on the cost of the separation, but it is likely to have been in the neighborhood of €20-25 million -- a hefty sum to avoid bad publicity.
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