Bob Stapleton (born April 1, 1958, in
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...
) is an American entrepreneur and the former team owner of
cycling team
A cycling team is a group of cycle sport, cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle racing, bicycle races whether amateur or professional – and the supporting personnel. Cycling teams are most important i ...
. Stapleton was previously the team manager of when it was known as . The transition to owner occurred on November 28, 2007 when
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
telecom company
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
ended its sponsorship after numerous doping allegations surfaced throughout 2007.
Stapleton began his relationship with
T-Mobile
T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...
when his communications company
VoiceStream Wireless
T-Mobile US, Inc. is an American wireless network operator headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas and Bellevue, Washington, U.S. Its largest shareholder is a multinational telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG, which , holds 48.4 perc ...
was bought in 2000 by Deutsche Telekom for $50 billion. The original purchase price of Voicestream was $50B. At closing, DT stock had gone down and the value was less. VoiceStream was renamed
T-Mobile USA
T-Mobile US, Inc. is an American wireless network operator headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas and Bellevue, Washington, U.S. Its largest shareholder is a multinational telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG, which , holds 48.4 perc ...
. He later became involved with cycling by founding High Road Sports Inc., which managed T-Mobile Team (both men's and women's) until 2007.
After the ''
Operación Puerto'' scandal touched big names of the men's team such as
Jan Ullrich
Jan Ullrich (; born 2 December 1973) is a German former professional road bicycle racer. Ullrich won gold and silver medals in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He won the 1999 Vuelta a España and the HEW Cyclassics in front of a home crow ...
and
Óscar Sevilla
Óscar Miguel Sevilla Rivera (born 29 September 1976), nicknamed ''El Niño'', is a Spanish-Colombian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI Continental team . He is a climber with a pedigree in stage races, having finish ...
, and following disputes among riders and managing staff, there were major changes in both the team's roster and management, and Stapleton was appointed team manager.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stapleton, Bob
American sports businesspeople
1958 births
Living people