GDR tour 1953
The 1953 GDR tour took place from August 21 to 30. The stage race , which was held for the fifth time, was won by Gustav-Adolf Schur from Magdeburg . The GDR national team I won the team competition .
Attendees
The field of participants consisted of 126 drivers from 21 teams. The following teams were formed: two GDR national teams, the West German Association of German Cyclists (BDR), 16 GDR-wide sports associations (SV), RV Sturmvogel 25 Dortmund and a mixed GDR team.
Route
The circular route, divided into nine stages, was 1,672 kilometers long and touched twelve of the 14 GDR districts . The start and finish were in East Berlin . At 226 kilometers, the final stage from Görlitz to East Berlin was the longest part of the day, while the eighth stage from Dresden to Görlitz was the shortest at 138 kilometers. There were five mountain stages between Magdeburg and Görlitz.
Race course
In the first few stages there was no clear favorite. Karl Leus (BDR) stage win on the first day was a flash in the pan, he already lost over two minutes on the second part of the day. The new front runner Lothar Meister II (DDR II) ruined his chances on the fourth stage when he negotiated a time penalty for slipstream driving. He had to hand over the yellow jersey of the front runner to his teammate Horst Siegel, who in turn experienced a drop in performance on the seventh stage and was replaced in the overall standings by the stage winner Gustav-Adolf Schur (GDR I). On the 166 kilometers between Karl-Marx-Stadt, he had distanced the field of drivers by 3:29 minutes. On the last two stages of the day, Schur managed to control his rivals enough that his overall victory was no longer in danger.
As expected, the first GDR national team with drivers Paul Dinter , Lothar Meister I , Erich Schulz , Gustav-Adolf Schur , Bernhard Trefflich and Detlef Zabel won the team championship. The riders of the Association of German Cyclists held their own surprisingly well. They were the stage winners three times and came third in the final ranking behind the team from the Unity Sports Association and ahead of the second GDR national team.
| stage | Start finish | Length (km) | Winner (team) | Time (h) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Berlin - Greifswald | 201 | Karl Leu (BDR) | 4:55:00 |
| 2 | Greifswald - Schwerin | 204 | Georg Stoltze (GDR II) | 5:57:55 |
| 3 | Schwerin - Magdeburg | 224 | Lothar Gruber (BDR) | |
| 4th | Magdeburg - Erfurt | 215 | Gustav-Adolf Schur (GDR I) | 6:48:55 |
| 5 | Erfurt - Halle | 157 | Werner Malitz (SV unit) | 4:07:11 |
| 6th | Halle - Karl-Marx-Stadt | 141 | Alfred Zehe (BDR) | |
| 7th | Karl-Marx-Stadt - Dresden | 166 | Gustav-Adolf Schur (GDR I) | 4:46:46 |
| 8th | Dresden - Görlitz | 138 | Dieter Nestler (SV Rotation) | 3:38:06 |
| 9 | Görlitz - East Berlin | 226 | Dieter Lüder (SV Post) | 6:51:53 |
Final results
| driver | team | Time (h) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 . | Gustav-Adolf Schur | GDR I | 47:34:40 |
| 2. | Georg Stoltze | GDR II | 47:38:36 |
| 3. | Werner Gallinge | SV unit | 47:39:05 |
| 4th | Bernhard Trefflich | GDR I | 47:40:12 |
| 5. | Werner Mikat | BDR | 47:42:06 |
| 6th | Erich Schulz | GDR I | 47:42:35 |
| 7th | Horst Rauschenberger | SV Up | 47:43:49 |
| 8th. | Walter Thiem | SV tractor | 47:44:20 |
| 9. | Horst Siegel | GDR II | 47:46:19 |
| 10. | Horst Franke | SV Chemistry | 47:48:51 |
| 11. | Detlef Zabel | GDR I | 47:49:20 |
| 12. | Heinz Fiedler | SV engine | 47:52:34 |
| 13. | Rudi Pletsch | SV unit | 47:52:46 |
| 14th | Werner Malitz | SV unit | 47:55:15 |
| 15th | Walter Hundertmark | BDR | 47:55:41 |
| 16. | Dieter Koehler | SV steel | 47:55:50 |
| 17th | Edgar sweetheart | SV Chemistry | 48:02:50 |
| 18th | Paul Dinter | GDR I | 48:05:14 |
| 19th | Fritz Funke | SV bismuth | 48:06:53 |
| 20th | Herbert Ebbers | BDR | 48:13:25 |
| ... | |||
| 90. | Ernst Thiem | SV tractor | 54:30:43 |
| team | Time (h) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 . | GDR national team I | 142: 51: 08 |
| 2. | SV unit | 143: 04: 08 |
| 3. | Association of German Cyclists | 143: 04: 11 |
| 4th | GDR national team II | 143: 10: 41 |
| 5. | SV Up | 143: 31: 06 |
| 6th | SV turbine | 143: 59: 34 |
| 7th | SV Chemistry | 144: 16: 51 |
| 8th. | SV bismuth | 144: 20: 28 |
| 9. | SV steel | 144: 24: 39 |
| 10. | SV Post | 144: 33: 56 |
| 11. | SV rotation | 145: 31: 43 |
| 12. | SV engine | 145: 43: 49 |
| 13. | SV activist | 146: 35: 37 |
| 14th | SV structure | 147: 26: 07 |
| 15th | SV locomotive | 147: 31: 28 |
| 16. | RV Sturmvogel Dortmund | 147: 36: 41 |
| 17th | SV Dynamo | 148: 03: 44 |
| 18th | SV progress | 150: 42: 36 |
| 19th | SV Semper | 150: 43: 56 |
| 20th | Mixed team | 150: 45: 56 |
| 21st | SV tractor | 152: 02: 22 |
literature
- GDR sports newspaper Deutsches Sportecho , issues August 1953