Tour of Germany axed after drug scandals

(CNN) -- Organizers have scrapped next year's Tour of Germany on the same day that German broadcasters pulled the plug on covering the 2009 Tour de France.

German media giants ARD and fellow-national TV channel ZDF announced on Thursday they would not cover the Tour de France again because of recent cases of failed drugs tests.

And just hours later, the German Cycling Federation (BDR) announced the 2009 Deutschland Tour would not take place for the same reason. "We regret taking this decision, but it had to be done," said Tour of Germany organizer Kai Rapp.

The development came after organizers met with their financers and the decision was taken to cancel the national event indefinitely.

The scrapping of the German Tour, and the decision by both ARD and ZDF, comes less than 24 hours after Austria's Bernhard Kohl, who finished third in the Tour de France, admitted to using CERA, the new generation of banned blood booster EPO.

Kohl was the fourth rider on this year's Tour, after Italian duo Riccardo Ricco and Leonardo Piepoli and Gerolsteiner team-mate Stefan Schumacher, to have been caught out by the new tests for CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator).

"The sporting value of the Tour de France has been reduced by the accumulation of failed drugs tests," said ARD chairman Fritz Raff after the decision was made following a meeting in Cologne. "Therefore, its broadcast value has sunk deeply."

ARD pulled the plug on broadcasting the 2007 Tour de France in the middle of the competition after German rider Patrick Sinkewitz failed a drugs test for testosterone.

The broadcasters had been set to renegotiate their contract with Tour organizers to screen next year's race, but Thursday's announcement means there are now no plans to screen the world's premier cycling event in Germany in the near future.

Thomas Bach, president of the German Olympic Sport Federation (DOSB), was surprised by the broadcasters' decision. "I consider it premature, the Tour doesn't take place until the summer of 2009," he told German sports agency SID. "They should have waited to see what decisions the International Cycling Union (UCI) take."

The decision by ARD and ZDF comes less than 24 hours after Austria's Kohl, the best climber at this year's Tour, admitted he took CERA.

The 26-year-old Gerolsteiner rider said he took the drug to help him speed up recovery after a heavy fall in June's Dauphine Libere, a warm-up race for the Tour.

While Gerolsteiner will cease to race again after their sponsorship was pulled, Thursday's events could have repercussions for other German cycling teams.

Already German dairy manufacturers Milram have said they are considering their options as the already battered image of cycling takes another blow. A Milram spokesman said on Wednesday they had exit strategies in place if needed.