Formative families in cycling: The Amplers as stars of the GDR cycling scene

The International Peace Tour was regarded as the "Tour de France of the East", the most important amateur race on the scene and for many years the highlight of the cycling season in the GDR. One family name is closely associated with the tour: Both father Klaus and later his son Uwe Ampler are on the list of winners of the race through Eastern Europe. However, as the International Peace Tour slipped more and more into insignificance after the fall of communism in 1989, the Amplers' lives weren't always lucky either.

Klaus Ampler GDR Sportsman of the Year 1963

Klaus Ampler was one of the most influential figures in GDR cycling. During his active career, he won the overall GDR Tour in 1962 and 1963 as well as the national road championship title. He reached his peak in 1963: he won two stages of the International Peace Ride, rode into the leader's jersey and secured overall victory. His compatriots later voted him GDR Sportsman of the Year.

However, Ampler was unable to build on these results in the following years. He ended his career in 1970. From then on, he took on coaching duties at SC DHfK Leipzig and for the GDR national team. Under his guidance, the GDR team won the silver medal in the four-man team time trial on the road at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow; Bernd Drogan also won the 1982 World Championships road title in the British town of Goodwood.

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Uwe Ampler - world class with the amateurs, problems with the pros

Meanwhile in Leipzig, Klaus Ampler nurtured a number of talents, including Uwe Raab and his son Uwe. In 1986, Ampler secured the World Championship title in the amateur road race, and in 1987, 1988 and 1989 he became the first rider to win the International Peace Ride three times in a row. In 1988, he also won gold in the team time trial over 100 kilometres at the Olympic Games in Seoul.

With the fall of communism in 1989, Ampler then ventured into the professional ranks with the Dutch team PDM - his father Klaus joined him as a trainer. Expectations were high for the world-class amateur rider, but Ampler never really found his feet with the pros, despite stage wins at Paris-Nice and the Tour de Suisse.

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Doping ends Uwe Ampler's career in 1999

A move to Team Telekom in 1992 did nothing to change this. Ampler was not given a new contract for 1994 and subsequently accused his old employer of doping abuse. From today's perspective, there may have been some truth in this, but at the time it cost Ampler his reputation in the professional scene. He was also subsequently unsuccessful as a businessman.

All the more surprising were his comeback in 1997 with the second-class Polish Mroz team and his fourth overall victory at the Internationale Friedensfahrt a year later - against the superiority of Team Telekom. He received a lot of recognition for this, but the highs did not last long: in 1999, Uwe Ampler tested positive for testosterone at the Sachsen Tour. The end of his career.

A few years later, he was hit by a car while training on his bike, suffered a fractured skull and was in a coma for several weeks. Klaus Ampler developed Alzheimer's in 2005 and died in a nursing home in 2016 at the age of 75. Uwe Ampler is now self-employed as a rehabilitation trainer.