November 10, 2007 (Berlin, Germany) — Adidas, the largest sportswear equipment maker worldwide, will end its co-sponsorship of the T-Mobile cycling team by the end of 2008 – or sooner – reports AFP. Citing recent revelations of doping in the team, Adidas has decided not to renew its sponsorship contract that finishes in 2008 and the company is envisioning terminating the contract sooner.

Former team member, Patrik Sinkewitz, who is facing the prospect of a two-year ban for use of artificial testosterone, recently testified to the German cycling federation (BDR) for five hours. Hoping for leniency, he is cooperating with authorities and spoke of having received blood doping from team doctors during the 2006 Tour de France. Meanwhile, former team soigneur, Jeff d’Hont, wrote a book this spring entitled “Confessions of a Cycling Soigneur” in which he claimed many instances of doping with the team under its former name of Telekom and apparently d’Hont is now working on a new book.

Adidas provides clothing and shoes for the T-Mobile and the team website lists Adidas, Audi, and Giant as co-sponsors. There are also some 20 team suppliers, including Nokia and PowerBar. The team’s title sponsor, T-Mobile, is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. The parent company is still considering what to do about its sponsorship of the scandal-plagued team but has not decided whether it will prematurely cancel its contract which expires in 2010.

Michael Barry is currently the only Canadian riding for T-Mobile.