Rock Racing is hiring former Telecom and T-Mobile coach Rudy Pevenage as director sportif for the 2009 season, adding some top flight team management to complement its expanded roster.

The team's choice of Pevenage, however, is sure to get attention for another reason: as Jan Ullrich's former director, Pevenage was tied up in the Operacion Puerto scandal that ended the German racer's career.

Pevenage's hiring has led to speculation that Rock would hire Ullrich, which team owner Michael Ball has denied. Ullrich has denied that he is interested in coming out of retirement.

Rock also is hiring former Discover Channel assistant director Laurenzo LaPage as assistant director.

“Without a doubt, we have two of the most experienced director sportifs that cycling has produced in the last 20 years,” Ball said in a press release. “Rudy built a dynasty with the powerful Telekom and T-Mobile teams, while Laurenzo comes to us from Astana, a team that has won three of the past five Grand Tours.”

“With these two heading up our team, Rock Racing will have the infrastructure to compete against the very best,” Ball said. “The caliber of riders on the bike will be matched by brilliant leadership behind the scenes.”

Pevenage, 54, has worked with Histor (1989), Telekom/T-Mobile (1994-2002) and Coast/Bianchi (2003). He guided Ullrich to victory in the 1997 Tour de France.

During his own cycling career from 1976 to 1988, Pevenage won more than two dozen races, including the second stage of the Tour de France in 1980.

T-Mobile fired Pevenage in 2006. The team said he was let go because he lied about having contact with Operacion Puerto doctor Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes. Infamously, among the 200 bags of blood Spanish police found at Fuentes' labs were some marked for "Rudy's son," thought to be Ullrich. Ullrich continues to deny doping.

LaPage, 42, helped direct Italian Paolo Savoldelli to victory at the 2005 Giro d’Italia and he was also part of the Discovery Channel staff when Lance Armstrong won his fifth (2003) and sixth (2004) Tours de France. LaPage raced professionally from 1989 to 2002.

Ball also announced a more comprehensive internal anti-doping program for the 2009 season.

The team’s testing program is run by Scott Analytics, which was founded by Paul Scott, the co-founder of the Agency for Cycling Ethics. ACE, which Scott left last spring, provided internal testing for Garmin-Chipotle, Columbia and BMC. ACE closed earlier this month citing financial difficulties.