LuK Challenge

The LuK Challenge was a bike race , more precisely: a pair of time trials that was held in Bühl every year at the end of July and beginning of August until 2006 .

history

The forerunner event of the cycling race existed since 1993; at that time still under the name Telekom Grand Prix , in 1996 it was relocated to Karlsruhe under the same name . It took place there between 1997 and 1999 under the name Breitling Grand Prix , between 2000 and 2001 under the name EnBW Grand Prix and between 2002 and 2003 under the name Karlsruher Versicherungs-Grand-Prix . During this time, a street race called the LuK Cup took place in Bühl . As of 2004, the pair time trial was relocated from Karlsruhe to Bühl and carried out under the name LuK Challenge .

The LuK Challenge was part of the UCI Europe Tour and was rated 1.1. The previous event in Karlsruhe was in category 1.2. Due to its international position, the race was also viewed as the unofficial world championship in the pair time trial. Many Tour de France riders used the event to show themselves back to the home crowd after the tour. The LuK Challenge was mainly financed by the automotive supplier LuK , which also supports the cycling fanatic Didi Senft .

In autumn 2006, after numerous doping cases in cycling, the main sponsor LuK announced that it would end its commitment.