at the end of 1988, former world champion hennie kuiper set up a german cycling team that was sponsored by the city of stuttgart and rode on eddy merckx cycles. the team was called "stuttgart-merckx-gonsor" for the 1989 season and had nine riders (which included udo bölts). at that time when there were no german cycling teams and the country's main cycling event, the rund um den henninger turm had not been won by a german since rudi altig in 1970. during its first year of existence team rider dariusc kajzer brought the team its first success in the national road race championships in germany. the team became "stuttgart-mercedes-merckx-puma" in 1990 and bölts continued the success of the team by becoming road race champion of germany.