RadioShack's Andreas Klöden had harsh words for Germany's national cycling organization, the Bund Deutscher Radfahrer (BDR). The former Tour de France podium finisher unleashed a tidal wave of vitriol at the BDR in a ten-post, 45 minute rant on his Twitter page yesterday.
He began by bemoaning the position of Germany in the UCI national rankings: "Oh, what I just read, Germany is only number 12 in the national rankings and should probably start with only five riders [at the World Championships in Australia], instead of nine."
Klöden is not incorrect in pointing out the rather dour state of affairs of German cycling. The German races seem to bow out with almost startling regularity, the teams have all disappeared, and unsurprisingly, the results have stopped coming in.
It would seem like it couldn't get any worse, but according to Klöden, it did, when Germany's current top rider, Heinrich Haussler, gave up his German citizenship for Australia.
"The best German classics rider now rides for Australia. he had a lot of ProTour points last year, and he is the future. Why did he go?????"
Klöden answered his own question moments before: "The Germany Cycling Federation is an amateur! No nomination criteria, no professional guidance. No one has any idea about professional cycling."
Klöden believes that the decision on who to take to the World Championships and the Olympic Games and other such national team events, should follow in the lines of Italy. Klöden believes, and this is probably not a stretch, that the ex-professionals are a lot more qualified to select teams. Klöden is particularly fond of the uber-popular, Marcel Wust: "Marcel Wust was one with intelligence and competence!"
While Klöden was sad to see Germany give up his German passport to race for Australia, he applauds his move: "I love Australia and what Heinrich has done. It was the right way. He [deserves] to work with professionals, not amateurs."
Klöden has had a long history of disagreement with the BDR, and it came out particularly sharply yesterday when he singled out members of the BDR elite: "People like Rudolf Scharping, Udo Sprenger, and Burkard Bremer!"
"Only when these gentlemen retire, will it be better."
Scharping has been the president of the BDR for the last five years, before that he was German Minister of Defense at one point. Bremer serves as the vice president, and Sprenger is the sport director. Sprenger retorted to SID: "Mr. Klöden has had his problems with the leadership of the BDR for a long time. His opinions are sometimes valid, and sometimes they're not."
The Olympic Games road race podium finisher in 2000 resigned from the national team two years on account of his abhorrence of the BDR leaders due to his non-nomination for the Olympic Games in Beijing. He vowed never to race for Germany again.
While Germany languishes in 12th overall in the national standings, it is possible that the country could move up this weekend into the top 10 provided German riders can pull off a big result in the country's top one-day classic, the Vattenfall Cyclassics. Andre Greipel is one of the top favorites for the sprinter friendly race around Hamburg, while Milram's Gerald Ciolek finished on the podium last year. There is still a small amount of hope for enough points to jump into the top ten.