German public-service broadcaster ARD has delayed its decision over whether to return to live coverage of the Tour de France cycling race until the new year.
ARD chairman Lutz Marmor last month said the broadcaster would make a decision by the end of 2014. However, ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky told the SID news agency that negotiations with Tour organiser Amaury Sports Organisation will now “move into the new year.”
ARD and fellow public-service broadcaster ZDF stopped showing the race in 2012 after temporarily halting coverage during the 2007 Tour due to doping scandals in the sport.
But the impressive performances of German cyclists Marcel Kittel, Tony Martin and André Greipel in the 2014 Tour, plus efforts to clean up cycling’s doping problems, appear to be forcing a rethink.
Pan-regional broadcaster Eurosport provided live coverage of the 2014 Tour in Germany.