the team had a continuous presence at the top of the professional peloton and continued to sign the emerging german cyclists of the times with andreas klöden in 1998, jörg jaksche in 1999, matthias kessler in 2000 and stefan schumacher in 2002 to name but a few. in addition the team signed many successful non-german riders such as georg totschnig, alexander vinokourov, cadel evans, santiago botero and paolo savoldelli.