[1] He was the first German to win the amateur competition of the World Cycling Championships and the Peace Race.

In 1953 he had a great stake in East Germany winning the blue jersey of the best team at the Peace Race.

Schur reached the summit of his popularity by not winning, however: At the 1960 UCI Road World Championships that took place at the Sachsenring, Schur was favorite to defend his title again, but instead he let his teammate Bernhard Eckstein pass who eventually won the race.

This selfless gesture capped Schur's myth, the dimensions of which can be sensed if one considers the results of a survey conducted after the end of East Germany: here Schur was voted greatest East German sports personality of all time, 25 years after ending his career.

After German reunification he kept to his views and joined the SED successor party PDS and was a member of Germany's parliament, Bundestag, between 1998 and 2002.