By Matt Cutler
March 2009

Bob Stapleton, owner and manager of Team Columbia-Highroad, on bringing in business acumen from outside sport and the dark cloud of doping hanging over professional cycling.

Having already co-founded two market-leading communications companies - Western Wireless Corporation and Voicestream Wireless - during two decades in the technological sector, Bob Stapleton and his wife Tess founded High Road Sports, a management company promoting self-improvement and an active lifestyle for
millions of people worldwide. High Road Sports owns and operates Team Columbia-Highroad, a leading professional cycling team which won more than 150 races in 2008, including six stages of the Tour de France.

How did your previous business experience help in bringing fresh ideas to a sports?
VoiceStream was built around doing things differently than our competition, and then beating them in the marketplace and High Road follows the same tactic. We look hard at what the competition is doing - what is working and not - and then try to create our own bag of tricks using the best methods and technology available.
I’m from a technological background and we partner with our suppliers and sponsors to develop the best equipment, methods and training so that our riders have the tools they need to win.

To read the full story, download original article