Deutschland Tour

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For 2006-07 Nordic combined tour, see Tour of Germany.

Deutschland Tour
Race details

Date	August
Region	Germany
English name	Tour of Germany
Local name(s)	Deutschland Tour (German)
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI ProTour
Type	Stage-race
History
First edition	1911
Editions	29 (as of 2007)
First winner	Hans Ludwig
Most recent	Jens Voigt

The Deutschland Tour (English: Tour of Germany and sometimes Deutschland-Rundfahrt in German) is the most important multi-stage road bicycle race in Germany. Initially the race was held in May/June. Since 2005 it is part of the UCI ProTour and has been moved to August.

[edit] History

Already in 1911 a "national" cycling race of over 1,500 km was held in Germany (which was then composed of several territories and kingdoms). Until 1931 several real --more-or-less-- Tours were held, but always under very different conditions and organisations. In 1931 the first Deutschlandtour was held, and it is generally agreed upon that the race was exciting and well organised between 1937 and 1939, the start of World War II.

2005 overall winner Levi Leipheimer riding in the Deutschland Tour.

Germany never had a significant road cycling history, like Belgium, France and Italy, which caused the race's popularity to depend on German successes. This resulted in several parallel tours of West-Germany.

But after Jan Ullrich's Tour de France victory, cycling became more popular. Partially as a result of Germany's new-found cycling enthusiasm, in 1999 the Deutschlandtour became invigorated, and continues to this day. In 1998 the Bund Deutscher Radfahrer e.V. and the company Upsolut founded the Deutschland Tour gmbh.