Gerolsteiner decision due in a week

By Susan Westemeyer

German ProTour squad Gerolsteiner and its manager Hans-Michael Holczer will know what the future holds in one week, with the naming-rights sponsor expected to announce its future sponsorship plans. The sponsor's decision on whether to continue beyond 2008 will be made on September 4, according to director of corporate communications for Gerolsteiner Brunnen GmbH & Co. KG Stefan Göbel.

"The firm still has not yet made its final decision," Göbel told dpa. "Cycling has right now an image which could hardly be worse, and Team Gerolsteiner has some fine young riders."

Gerolsteiner spends an estimated nine million Euros a year on the team, which features such young German riders as Sefan Schumacher, Markus Fothen, Fabian Wegmann and Robert Förster.