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German tour canceled over doping furor
The avalanche of positive drug tests has buried the 2009 Tour of Germany.
The organizers and the German cycling federation (BDR) announced Thursday that they were canceling the nine-day event due to the recent spate of doping positives.
“We regret this decision, but it had to be taken," said race organizer Kai Rapp.
Linus Gerdemann (Columbia) won the 2008 edition. The 2009 race had been scheduled for August 29-September 6.
On Tuesday, organizers of the Tour of Stuttgart canceled their six-day event, saying recent failed doping tests have tarnished the sport's image in Germany.
"We have held intense discussions over the last few days and decided at the conclusion not to organize the 26th edition of the competition given the current situation in cycling," organizer Andreas Kroll told the German agency SID.
"Professional cycling has an enormous image problem at the moment which we can't currently change.”
The race had been scheduled for January 15-20 in the south German city. Agence France Presse contributed to this report.
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