Two days ago, it was announced that a renewed Tour of Germany will be back on the cycling calendar. Tour de France organizer ASO (Amaury Sports Organisation) and BDR (the German cycling union) have set up a cooperation.

The last edition of the Tour of Germany took place in 2008. Since then the race was cancelled due to some sponsorship issues. Cycling regains its popularity in Germany, a good example is the start of the Tour de France of 2017 in Düsseldorf. The first edition of the renewed Deutschland Tour will take place in 2017 or 2018. L

otto Soudal has two German riders in the team, André Greipel and Marcel Sieberg. They’re both very happy with this announcement.

“As a German rider I’m very happy that a renewed Tour of Germany will take place of course, it was an important race in the past. For the moment it’s not clear whether the first edition will be held in 2017 or 2018 and where and when the race will be organized. Germany offers a varied landscape, several types of stages are possible. The hotels are good accommodated as well,” André Greipel said.

“Germany has a strong economy, this new organization is good for cycling. It gives a chance to the smaller teams to race against the bigger teams and riders, this can only be an advantage for the quality and interest of the sport. Big steps are being made at this moment in what I call the ‘comeback’ of cycling in Germany. The German riders are performing well, the media shows a lot of interest, with Bora there’s a team with a long-term perspective, several sponsors with interests in Germany – like Soudal – engaged themselves and next year the Tour de France starts in Düsseldorf. I’m looking forward to be a representative for German cycling the next few years.”