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The organisers of the Bayern Rundfahrt, Germany’s only professional stage race, have pulled the plug on next year’s edition, unable to fill a €300,000 shortfall in their budget.
They will now set their sights on running the next edition of the race in 2017.
Next year will mark the first time in 36 years that the Bayern Rundfahrt will not be staged and, judging by the reaction on social media, the decision has come as a disappointment to cycling teams and fans alike.
Despite this year’s race being one of the most successful editions to date, race director Ewald Strohmeier said he ultimately didn’t have much choice in the matter.
“with a budget shortfall of around €300,000, we had no other option,” Strohmeier explained. “We needed to make this decision due to the responsibility we carry towards our partners, particularly the host towns and teams, who require certainty with regards to planning their arrangements for the coming year.”
The Bayern Rundfahrt had been a fixture on the UCI Europe Tour since 2005, when it gained 2.HC classification, with Bradley Wiggins, John Degenkolb, Andre Greipel and Tony Martin all having won stages over the years.
Race organisers even had plans to achieve WorldTour status by 2017, when the UCI will be planning to implement a series of reforms to the sport. In fact, these ambitions may have been part of the decision-making processes of the race organisers in cancelling next year’s race.
German news sources indicated that Strohmeier and his team had plans to professionalise the race to improve its chances of gaining WorldTour status within the next two years. This would have reportedly entailed the establishment of the race’s own television production systems, and the creation of new, full-time positions, which inevitably requires more money.
Now the race’s chances of being promoted to WorldTour level by 2017 come under serious doubt. The ASO’s recent announcement that it will remove its events from the WorldTour calendar from 2017 onwards would have otherwise provided some hope that the Rundfahrt would receive the upgrade in the near future.
It was always going to be an ambitious task for organisers to find the additional €300,000, with German reports indicating that Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken, the bank which had sponsored the race for 36 years, pulled their financial support after 2015.
Speculation in the German media suggested organisers would consider private investors as a viable sponsorship arrangement. One can only hope that organisers can use next year’s break to find the sponsors they need to make a 2017 edition possible.
Nevertheless, it is disappointing that a country whose professional riders have such a significant presence in international cycling are left without a stage race on home soil.
One can only hope that 2016 will merely mark a temporary hiatus for the Bayern Rundfahrt from the UCI calendar.
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