December 1, 2006 – According to reports today by AFP, neither Jan Ullrich (formerly of T-Mobile) nor Ivan Basso (newly signed to Discovery Channel) will be welcome at the 2007 Tour of Germany. Tour director, Kai Rapp, indicated this in reference to the ongoing Operacion Puerto doping scandal in which both cyclists are implicated.

“We will do what we can so that neither Ullrich nor Basso are in the starting line-up of the 2007 tour,” declared Rapp to the German daily Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. “(And) we are ready to use whatever judicial measures that it takes,” he added.

This declaration comes within days of a statement from the German television chain, ARD, that it will indeed cover the 2007 event. The chain had envisioned ending its contract to air the event because of the doping scandals.

“We have decided to once again support cycling after studying all of the measures taken to combat doping since the 2006 event,” explained ARD spokesman, Fritz Raff, but cautioned that Ullrich’s presence at the 2007 race “would be a problem.”