Cycling is continuing to be faced with massive hurdles and challenges going into 2008, as commanding bodies within the sport are still fractured while doping remains as big an issue and problem as it was at the beginning of 2007.

As for T-Mobile, the entire team lived a tumultuous season where the future of the team constantly seemed in limbo due to a consistent stream of doping related problems, allegations and admissions. The team’s results were the best in the last three years, with over thirty victories and countless fine finishes highlighted by strong performances in all three Grand Tours. 2008 has to be better—there is no alternative—and the management has assembled a team that can tackle that task.

The 2008 T-Mobile team looks stronger on paper and, from what I saw at our team meeting last weekend, the ambiance has improved. Over the last two years the team has been completely overhauled. It is a team heavy on sprinters made complete with a handful of competent climbers, veteran Tour riders, and Classics veterans. The sprinters scored the bulk of our victories this year and without a proven Grand Tour winner within the squad it makes sense to have a couple of sprinters that can virtually guarantee that the team will be seen often in the results.

During the three days of meetings we set our goals for the coming season while we went over our schedules with the management, we worked on our positions, were able to take a good look at the new equipment we would be riding, were fitted for our team clothing, and were also given our training programs both on and off the bike. The core work we began last season was highly beneficial for injury prevention and in increasing comfort, coordination, agility and productivity on the bike and this will be intensified for 2008. The workouts will not only make us better cyclists but will also make us healthier and stronger when we retire as cyclist are notoriously weak in most areas outside of pedaling.

Last year at our team meeting Bob Stapleton promised to provide us with the best support and equipment available. We started the year with a good foundation but with the experience gained this season the structure for next year looks better, the equipment faster and stronger and resources increased. To achieve the goal of being a clean team the testing has also intensified and our blood and urine will be analyzed more than biweekly throughout the season at random intervals.

Clean cycling will continue to be a major focus of the program, which is a stipulation of the sponsor and, I truly hope, also something to which the athletes are all committed. T-Mobile is in many ways a pillar in German cycling and increasingly, is becoming one in international cycling. If the program succeeds the sport will change for the better, and if it doesn’t, the already weak structure could very well crumble. With more teams committed to stringent internal anti-doping programs for 2008 there is greater hope.

My season was dismal, as I was plagued by illness, but it was also a year that now has me motivated for next year, to start again and to perform at the same level or better than I have in the past. After several months away from training—the longest stretch since I was a teenager--I know I have a lot of work to do to get back to a good level but I also I feel rested and ready, which is perhaps the most important thing going into a new year. On a positive note during my time at home, away from the races, I was able to spend time with my family—and our new baby boy who was born in September.

The unresolved issues that plagued cycling of 2007 will sadly carry over into the new season. The biggest of those issues is Operación Puerto. It has become a debacle that doesn’t seem to have any ending in site. With some of the implicated riders suspended while others continue to win at the highest level there is an amazing double standard. The UCI is trying to work with an iron fist but with little financial clout they have minimal power of the grand tours, the teams of even the national federations and their terse words often seem impotent at the end of the day. A complete overhaul of the sport is gravely necessary.

Thankfully, there are a few individuals, Bob Stapleton among them, that have a vision for the sport, believe in pushing it forward to force change. If Bob didn’t believe in cycling I am sure he would have thrown in the towel long ago he certainly had to weather a shocking and eye-opening storm to keep the team alive for 2008.