Sports Sponsoring

T-Mobile spokesman Christian Frommert told reporters in Saarbrücken on Thursday that Deutsche Telekom management decided it would honor a contract with the T-Mobile team which runs until 2010.

Frommert said Telekom was committed to helping the sport earn back trust after a very difficult time, adding that the company maintained the right to ends its contract "immediately" if members of the team run by Bob Stapleton are found guilty of doping.

"We want to help restore faith in cycling, which we see as having hit a low mark," Frommert said. "We are convinced that the people who want to change something should not run away from it."

T-Mobile's continued sponsorship was thrown into question during this summer's Tour de France when T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz's blood sample tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone.

Sinkewitz later admitted to have used a testosterone gel to enhance his performance. He faces a two-year ban from the sport and has been kicked off the T-Mobile team.

Under the current name T-Mobile or its predecessor Telekom, the German telecommunications company has been a major cycling sponsor for 16 years. The team claimed two Tour de France victories with Bjarne Riis in 1996 and Jan Ullrich in 1997.

Both of the Tour winners, however, were later implicated in doping scandals that led to the team being almost completely revamped and the implementation of a strict anti-doping policy last year.

Germany's Gerolsteiner beverage company has said it would also re-evaluate its cycling sponsorship after the numerous doping allegations that have overshadowed the Tour de France for the last two years. The company is expected to make its decision public at the end of August.