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After a two-year break, the Ladies' Tour of Thüringen will be hosted once again by the city of Altenburg. The stage of July 17 will be run around the “skat city” and will include Meerane's Steile Wand climb.

We reproduce a contribution by Thomas Haegeler courtesy of Osterländer Volkszeitung.

After standing by for two years, Altenburg will host a stage of the International Ladies' Tour of Thüringen again. The Tour organizers, TRF Sportmarketing confirmed that the rendez-vous of the elite of women's cycling will call at the city famous for having invented the skat cards, on July 17. Along with the third Tour stage, which also includes the Steile Wand climb of Meerane, visitors will be coming for an open-to-all cycling race and a host of action on Altenburg's central Markt square.

Tino Scharschmidt confirmed this. “We are happy that first and foremost the commitment of the local club, SV Aufbau Altenburg contributes to hosting this sport event again at Altenburg,” the Head of the Business Development Department added. After all, this would be about world-class athletes and an international atmosphere you could feel everywhere. “This is yet another possibility to bring buzz and live to the city centre, and a big focus on Altenburg.”

For years, SV Aufbau Altenburg has been a critical contributor to the organization of the Tour stages in the “skat city,” and the club has been the organizer of the open-to-all race event that has formed part of the Tour year after year. “We put in our effort to have the Tour and the open-to-all race we organize in the Altenburg region in 2016,” SV Aufbau Altenburg's president, Sten Wagner points out. This commitment is above all to acquire sponsors, in order for it to be possible that the city is not required to put in big amounts of its own funds. What the town hall will bring to the event, as a consideration, is the action in the city centre and the required manpower, “so we can have a real ‘stage day’ with as many crossings as possible of the Markt square,” Wagner explains.

As early as in summer 2015, it was clear that another historic stage host in the Altenburg region, Schmölln, would have to focus on its 950-year anniversary, held this year. The Tour organizers regret the city's cancellation for this year, but understand the reasons behind it. “After all, Schmölln has been a very safe value and has been a stage host each and every year since 1999,” a spokesman for TRF Sportmarketing, Steffen Schumacher said. The organizers' motivation to make this a one-year-only break, he added, is tantamount. At Altenburg, on the other hand, planning goes on, rather, in a year-after-year approach — but two stage hosts in the Altenburg region in one Tour would not be a premiere either!

A Tour partnership with a long-standing tradition, that between the Otto Dix City of Gera and the International Ladies' Tour of Thüringen, will write down the next chapter, the city authorities confirmed, this week, to the Tour organizers.

The fact that Gera, along with many other advantages, is a cycling hot spot indeed, can be traced to a number of things—not least that Gera is home to a high-level training centre of the Olympic Preparation Centre of Thüringen and that a particularly successful cycling club, SSV Gera, has made a name for the city.

On top of that, it is home to the former Tour Director, Rainer Späth, who is a regular guest to the Tour year after year of course and has to and likes being the one to talk cycling at every passage or finish on Gera's Markt square when to Tour is on. Not to forget top-edge track sprinter Robert Förstemann whose birth town was the cycling city of Gera, and who fits in the stage finish at Gera every year.

It is unknown what kind of importance all this had in mayor, Dr Viola Hahn's decision, but she can be sure that there is a tradition and excitement for being close to big cycling in her city.

This tradition will see another fine example, when Gera will host yet another stage, now of the 29^th International Ladies' Tour of Thüringen in 2016. Tour Director, Vera Hohlfeld is very pleased with the trust the city places in the organization. “We are happy that the partnership will go on into the next year. This is far from going without saying in these trying times in which municipalities are faced with many an additional challenge!”

For the 29^th times, the world's leading woman cyclist will meet to challenge each other on Thüringen's roads, from July 15 - 21, 2016. The event, as every year, is one of the hallmarks of big international sport in the Federal State's calendar, which brings tens of thousands of spectators from close by and from abroad to the roads and the finish lines in the city centres.

A fine team presentation and, of course, 7 challenging stage are on the programme—including a visit to the neighbouring Federal State of Saxony and a few surprises...

Being the last big thing before the competitions held at the Olympic Games of Rio de Janeiro 2016, the “Rundfahrt” will certainly have a particular importance next year. The woman elite cyclists will want to use to Tour of Thüringen as a very handy a telltale preparation and challenge before the really big stuff of that year.<</p>