Germany's Zabel quits T-Mobile after 13 years
PARIS, July 31 (Reuters) - Germany's Erik Zabel, the most
successful active rider, announced on Sunday he was leaving team T-Mobile
after 13 years with the German outfit.
"It's a real pity that we couldn't reach an agreement," Zabel,
35, said on T-Mobile's website.
"Both parties had their own ideas, which we couldn't agree to.
But that is nothing exceptional in professional sport. I will walk away with
many great memories and as a friend."
Zabel, a winner of 191 races in his career, was not retained for
the last Tour de France when the T-mobile team was built around 1997
champion Jan Ullrich in a bid for overall victory rather than stage success.
Ullrich finished third overall while Kazakh Alexander
Vinokourov, who is also leaving the team at the end of the season to join
Spain's Liberty Seguros, won two stages.
Italy's Giuseppe Guerini won a third stage and T-Mobile finished
top of the team standings.
Zabel had apparently been offered a four-year contract, two of
them as a rider and the remaining two as a media officer.
The German rider, who won a record six green jerseys as the best
sprinter in the Tour de France, will announce his new team at a later date.
Zabel had been approached by Italy's Domina Vacanze but the
Italian group signed Alessandro Petaccchi a week ago, closing the door on
the German.
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