The 1968 GDR round trip was the 18th edition of this stage race and was held from July 20th to 25th. GDR driver Dieter Grabe from SC DHfK Leipzig won the individual competition . The team competition surprisingly won the SC Karl-Marx-Stadt ahead of the GDR national team.
The tour led over 985 kilometers from Potsdam to Lübbenau and was divided into seven stages. In the north there was an individual time trial over 48 kilometers between Anklam and Demmin and in Hainichen in Saxony there was a criterion over 72 kilometers. The longest part of the day was between Güstrow and Wittenberg with 253 kilometers. The only mountain stage was between Wittenberg and Mittweida .
Race course
The Leipzig Dieter Grabe dominated the tour from start to finish. On the first stage he was already at the top of the overall ranking, which he did not give up until the finish in Lübbenau. In the final standings he had a lead of more than five minutes after three stage wins. Although the GDR national team came in second in the team standings, their drivers disappointed in the individual standings. Dieter Mickein was best in the GDR selection in seventh place, still behind the best foreigner Thorleif Andresen from Norway, who reached sixth place. Eberhard Butzke and Steffen Dienewald from the company sports association (BSG) Post Berlin drove surprisingly well, finishing in eighth and ninth place. The former national driver Butzke, who was killed at SC Dynamo Berlin a year ago, even won the mammoth stage Güstrow - Wittenberg. The GDR juniors team also held up well against the state amateurs of the national team and the sports clubs. She came third in the team standings with a lead of almost 20 minutes over the second best club team, the ASK Vorwärts Leipzig.
