Linus Gerdemann’s name may not yet have grandiose ring of Lance Armstrong’s, but if the 24 year old and his T-Mobile team are to be believed, today’s solo success in Le Grand-Bornand hints that professional cycling may be about to turn a page.
This was by far the biggest moment in the young German’s career and it came just in time for a German television audience, once measured in the millions, who have been appalled by the string of doping scandals in recent months. Just as importantly for the Tour itself, his success was supported by a deep-seated belief that Gerdemann is ‘clean.’
If Jan Ullrich’s humiliation, which began a year with the Operacion Puerto investigation, had not been enough, the subsequent doping confessions of Bjarne Riis, winner of the Tour in 1996, while riding for the German Telekom team, and the admissions of doping by a string of his former team mates, ensured a collapse in German interest in the Tour.
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In the aftermath, ARD, the German broadcaster of the Tour, almost walked away from screening the race this summer. Only a last-minute crisis meeting averted a decision to tear up the contract between ARD and Tour owners, ASO. This afternoon, Gerdemann justified their faith, but all in Germany will be expecting him to prove worthy of their support.
It seems that the 24 year old, despite his youth, is well aware of those expectations. “Thank you to all the fans and to all those watching on TV who still follow cycling, despite all the problems,” Gerdemann said after his victory. “I think things are on the right track. We all want a clean sport and I think this victory demonstrates that it’s possible to win clean.”