2009 Tour of Germany is scrapped
Thursday, 16 October 2008Tour of Germany organisers have scrapped their race for next year while public broadcaster ARD said it would not show live pictures of the Tour de France because of cycling's doping problems.
'The 2008 Tour of Germany was the last one for the time being,' said a statement from the organisers.
'Due to the current developments in professional cycling we are no longer in a position to successfully finance and market the event.'
The decision came a day after Austrian Bernhard Kohl, who finished as best climber and was third overall at this year's Tour de France, admitted using CERA, the new generation of the banned blood-boosting drug EPO.
German Stefan Schumacher, who like Kohl rode for the Gerolsteiner team, was one of a number of other riders to test positive during the Tour.
On a bleak day for German cycling, public broadcaster ARD said it was ending live coverage of the sport's most important race.
'The sporting value of the Tour de France has dropped considerably due to the many doping cases,' ARD chairman Fritz Raff said in a statement. 'The value of the broadcast has similarly decreased.'
Tour de France organisers ASO reacted by saying the anti-doping policy conducted on the race was working.
'ARD asks for a fight against doping but are upset when drug cheats are found,' said an ASO statement. 'Would they want us to look (for drug cheats) and not find any?
'We regret the decision by ARD and are thinking about the hundreds of thousands of Germans who watch the race with enthusiasm every time it crosses the Rhine.'
ARD and fellow public network ZDF cut short their live coverage of the 2007 Tour de France after German rider Patrik Sinkewitz tested positive before resuming their broadcasts this year.
