Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt

Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt

Race details
Date	April–May
Region	Rhineland-Palatinate
English name	International Rhineland-Palatinate Tour
Local name(s)	International Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt (in German)
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI Europe Tour
Type	Stage race
Web site	rlp.rad-net.de
History
First edition	1966 (1966)
Editions	42
Final edition	2007 (2007)
First winner	Ortwin Czarnowksi (GER)
Final winner	Gerald Ciolek (GER)

Start of the Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt 2006 in Koblenz

The International Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt was a multi-stage road bicycle race held in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. In the years from 1966 to 2007, it was considered one of the biggest sporting events in Rhineland-Palatinate. No other city was as often the stage destination of the Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt as Bad Marienberg.

In its early years, it was an amateur race. The edition of 1969 was notable for the domination of Fedor den Hertog, winning nine of the eleven stages, and the overall classification with a large margin.^[1] After 2005 it was part of the UCI Europe Tour and part of the new German Championship [de; fr] (TUI Cup). In the past the race took place in September during the Vuelta a España. Starting in 2005, the race, classified in category 2.1 due to the newly introduced UCI ProTour, took place in May during the Giro d'Italia and just before the Tour of Catalonia.

Since 1981, a mountain and a sprint classification have been introduced. In 2007, for the first time a classification for the best young professional was introduced (blue jersey).

Due to the cases of doping in cycling, the Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt was cancelled in 2008. The Minister of the Interior of Rhineland-Palatinate, Karl Peter Bruch, announced that the state would not issue a permit for the race from 2008 and that the police would not be called off. "The current extent of the doping allegations has prompted the state government to suspend the financing of the Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt for the year 2008. We feel compelled to send this clear signal," said Bruch.^[2] As a result, it is unlikely that the tour will be held after 2008. Another setback in this respect is the dissolution of the organising association "Internationale Rheinland-Pfalz-Rad-Rundfahrt" on 5 December 2007. The official reason for this step is the resulting cost savings.^[3]

Winners

Year	Country	Rider	Team
1966	West Germany	Ortwin Czarnowski
1967	West Germany	Martin Gombert
1968	West Germany	Ortwin Czarnowski
1969	Netherlands	Fedor den Hertog
1970	West Germany	Karl-Heinz Muddemann
1971	West Germany	Dieter Koslar
1972	West Germany	Karl-Heinz Küster
1973	West Germany	Peter Weibel
1974	Netherlands	Aad van den Hoek
1975	Norway	Thorleif Andersen
1976	Poland	Mieczysław Nowicki
1977	Poland	Krzysztof Sujka
1978	Netherlands	Theo de Rooy
1979	Norway	Jostein Wilmann
1980	Denmark	Thomas Möller
1981	Czechoslovakia	Ladislav Ferebauer
1982	Austria	Helmut Wechselberger
1983	East Germany	Dan Radtke
1984	Czechoslovakia	Milan Jurčo
1985	East Germany	Olaf Ludwig
1986	East Germany	Thomas Barth
1987	East Germany	Mario Kummer
1988	West Germany	Christian Henn
1989	Poland	Joachim Halupczok
1990	West Germany	Kai Hundertmarck
1991	Germany	Gerd Audehm
1992	Germany	Gerd Audehm
1993	Germany	Bert Dietz
1994	France	Cédric Vasseur
1995	Germany	Jörn Reuss
1996	Germany	Olaf Ludwig
1997	Latvia	Dainis Ozols
1998	United States	Lance Armstrong
1999	Belgium	Marc Wauters
2000	Belgium	Marc Wauters
2001	Netherlands	Erik Dekker
2002	Germany	Ronny Scholz
2003	Italy	Daniele Nardello
2004	Germany	Björn Glasner
2005	Germany	Michael Rich
2006	Austria	René Haselbacher
2007	Germany	Gerald Ciolek

References

1. "Fedor is nog steeds een mysterie". BN De Stem (in Dutch). 3 November 2009. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
2. rad-net.de: Doping-Folgen: Keine Rheinland-Pfalz-Rundfahrt 2008 retrieved 3 July 2008.
3. rad-net.de: Keine Zukunft in Rheinland-Pfalz: Verein der Rundfahrt löst sich auf retrieved 3 July 2008.

External links

• Official website (in German)