As the season draws to a close, the women's T-Mobile Team are in confident mood going to the start line for this weekend's final leg of the 2006 World Cup, the Rund um die Nürnberger Altstadt.
"We had a fantastic year - with some ups and downs, of course," said team manager Andrzej Bek. "We started very well, taking great results in Australia and New Zealand and then carried that fine form through the spring races in Europe and North America.
"Injuries and sicknesses set us back somewhat in the summer, but the athletes bounced back with great results in August and then last week's top performances in Holland," added Bek, referring to Ina-Yoko Teutenberg and Judith Arndt's stage wins in the Holland Ladies Tour and Teutenberg's victory at the Rotterdam World Cup.
"We did pretty good for the first year," said Teutenberg. "We had hoped to end the season on a strong note," says Teutenberg. "But we never imagined scoring four wins in one week.
"We grew together as a team and won a lot of races. It was difficult at first, which is normal for a new team, but then everything started to fall into place," said the 32 year-old German.
Having a sponsor like T-Mobile is beginning to improve the perception of women's cycling said Teutenberg: "The more competitive teams that come on board, the better that is for the development of women's cycling in general," she said, "but there is still much room for improvement."
Teutenberg now has the season's final World Cup race in Nuremburg in her sights, where she'll be supported by Arndt, Kim Anderson, Kimberly Baldwin, Amy Moore and Christina Becker. "Usually, Nuremberg boils down to a sprint finish. Since the course is very fast, it's relatively tricky for a breakaway to succeed. We'll see how the legs are on Sunday and how well I have recovered from the races in Holland," she said.
