deutsche telekom came in as the main sponsor in 1991 and the team was known as "telekom-mercedes-merckx-puma". according to an interview with godefroot, it was bölts’ 17th place at the 1991 vuelta a españa that prompted him to accept the telekom management’s offer to take over the running of the team. godefroot signed several riders including classics specialist and 1991 paris–roubaix winner marc madiot. bölts who was involved with the team since its beginnings in 1989 stayed with the team until 2003, continued building on the successes of the team by winning stage 19, the queen stage of the 1992 giro d'italia. jens heppner continued this with his tenth place overall at the 1992 tour de france.