Sprenger and Schiffner sacked

The new 2006 Erik Zabel/Alessandro Petacchi team, Milram, has parted company with team manager Jörg Sprenger and proposed directeur sportif Micheal Schiffner, saying it wanted a "clean slate." Sponsor Nordmilch-Konzern announced on Tuesday that it let the two go only four days after introducing the new squad.

Both Sprenger and Schiffner were formerly associated with the "Stasi" (Staatssicherheit Ministerium), the main security and intelligence organisation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, former East Germany). Strenger was a Major in Dept. XX in Leipzig, involved with monitoring the "politically incorrect behaviour" of suspicious persons in the media, universities and sports, allegedly also being responsible for sending people to prison. Schiffner was not directly employed by the Stasi but was an "inoffizieller Mitarbeiter", (an unpaid "volunteer") who, under the name IM Frank Fischer, reported on West German athletes.

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