Ludewig to retire at end of season

After nine years as a professional cyclist, Jörg Ludewig is calling it quits at the end of the season.

"Since I have a great offer from the firm Carbonsports, I didn't want to wait any longer and will change sides at the end of the year. I am very excited to see how my 'new life' will feel," he said on his website, joerg-ludewig.com. "It was hard, but mainly a good, time."

Carbonsports is a German firm which manufactures high-end sports equipment, such as carbon frames and wheels.

Ludewig, who turns 32 on September 9, became professional in 1997 with Team Bayer-Worrington. He rode with Gerolsteiner (1999), Saeco (2000-2004), Domina Vacanze (2005) and T-Mobile (2006) before joining the Professional Continental Team Wiesenhof-Felt this year.

The German's career ran into problems last year when a letter he wrote in 1997 inquiring into the availability of doping products was made public. He denied that he had ever followed up on the letter and said that "I repeat, that now, as ever, I distance myself from doping." In August 2006 the team announced that he would not ride any more races for it and that his contract would not be renewed.

In an interview on radsport-aktiv.de, he said that he had been surprised and disappointed not be nominated to ride the Deutschland Tour, since he was in good condition at the time. "But after I asked again and again, the team management finally told me that they were not sure whether should take me because of my 'past.'"

Before he finally puts his bike aside for good, he will ride a local race in Steinhagen, Germany, this Saturday and the Drei-Länder Tour later in the month.