Race details | |
---|---|
Date | August |
Region | Netherlands |
Local name(s) | Ronde van Nederland |
Discipline | Road |
Type | Stage race |
History | |
First edition | 1948 |
Editions | 44 |
Final edition | 2004 |
First winner | Emile Rogiers (BEL) |
Most wins | Gerrie Knetemann (NED) (4) |
Final winner | Erik Dekker (NED) |
The Tour of the Netherlands(Dutch: Ronde van Nederland) was a road bicycle racing stage-race in the Netherlands, founded in 1948.
It was an annual race since 1975. [1] Because of the start of the UCI ProTour in 2005, it was replaced by the Eneco Tour.
The first edition started on April 24, from Dam Square, Amsterdam. The riders finished on May 1, nine days later, in the Olympisch Stadion. [2]
The competition's roll of honor includes the successes of Rik Van Looy, Jan Janssen, Joop Zoetemelk and Laurent Fignon. The record of victories belongs to Gerrie Knetemann.
Willem "Wim" van Est was a Dutch racing cyclist. He is best known for being the first Dutch cyclist to wear the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification in the Tour de France of 1951, and for falling into a ravine while wearing it.
Hendrik "Erik" Dekker is a retired Dutch professional road racing cyclist active from 1992 until 2006. He was a member of the Rabobank cycling team from 1992 till 2006. From 2007 to 2015 he was one of Rabobank's team managers.
Gerard Friedrich "Gerrie" Knetemann was a Dutch road bicycle racer who won the 1978 World Championship. He wore the Yellow Jersey early in each Tour de France for four consecutive years between 1977 and 1980.
Jan Raas is a Dutch former professional cyclist whose 115 wins include the 1979 World Road Race Championship in Valkenburg, he also won the Tour of Flanders in 1979 and 1983, Paris–Roubaix in 1982 and Milan–San Remo in 1977. He won ten stages in the Tour de France. In six starts, Raas won the Amstel Gold Race five times. In his entire career he competed in 23 of the highly contested "Monument" Races and he finished on the podium in almost half of them: 1st place four times and 3rd place six times.
Theofiel ("Theo") Middelkamp was a Dutch road cyclist. In 1947, Middelkamp became world champion. In 1936, he was the first Dutch cyclist ever to win a stage in the Tour de France.
Marc Wauters is a Belgian former cyclist who was professional from 1991 until 2006. The 2004 Olympian, nicknamed The Soldier was a member of the Rabobank cycling team of the UCI ProTour since 1998 and had to end his career several weeks short because of a broken collarbone which he suffered during a training on 20 September 2006.
Gerardus "Gerrit" Petrus Voorting was a Dutch road cyclist who was active between 1947 and 1960. As an amateur he won the silver medal in the individual road race at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. In his professional career Voorting won two Tour de France stages and wore the yellow jersey for 4 days. Voorting died on 30 January 2015 in his home in Heemskerk at the age of 92, within a week of two other members of the Dutch men's team pursuit squad, Henk Faanhof and Joop Harmans. He was the elder brother of Olympic cyclist Adrie Voorting.
Léon Hendrik Jan van Bon is a retired road racing cyclist from the Netherlands, who won the silver medal in the men's points race at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. He won his first major race at the professionals in 1998, winning the HEW Cyclassics. In 2001 he claimed the overall-victory in the Ronde van Nederland. Van Bon retired in 2013.
Maarten Jan den Bakker is a retired road bicycle racer from the Netherlands, who was a professional rider from 1990 to 2008. He won the Dutch National Road Race Championships twice and he participated in nine Tours de France, completing each of them. In 2008, Den Bakker ended his career. He also competed in the team time trial at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
Teun van Vliet is a retired road bicycle racer from the Netherlands, who was a professional rider from 1984 to 1990. Van Vliet's best year was 1987, when he won Gent–Wevelgem, Omloop "Het Volk" and the Ronde van Nederland. The next year he wore the yellow jersey for three days in the 1988 Tour de France.
Johan Lammerts is a retired road bicycle racer from the Netherlands, who was a professional rider from 1982 to 1992. His biggest success came in 1984, when he won the Tour of Flanders and the Ronde van Nederland. Lammerts also won the 20th stage of the 1985 Tour de France.
Janneke Ensing is a Dutch former sportsperson, who competed in speed skating in the 2000s before becoming a cyclist, competing for seven different teams between 2009 and 2021.
Kenny Robert van Hummel is a retired road bicycle racer from the Netherlands, who specialised in sprint finishes. He competed professionally between 2006 and 2014, with the Skil–Shimano, Vacansoleil–DCM and Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela teams.
Henk Lubberding is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1977 to 1992.
Gerrit Schulte was a Dutch professional track bicycle racer. Between 1940 and 1960 he won 19 six-day races out of 73 starts and was one of the dominant Six days racers of his time. Schulte was as well successful in track pursuit, becoming national champion ten times, European champion twice and world champion once, in 1948, when he beat Fausto Coppi in the final. He was also successful as a road race cyclists, becoming national champion three times and winning a stage in the 1938 Tour de France. Since 1955, the Gerrit Schulte Trophy has been awarded by the national federation to the best professional rider in the Netherlands.
Marc Sergeant is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. He competed in the team time trial event at the 1980 Summer Olympics. After Sergeant stopped his cycling career, he became team manager at Lotto–Soudal. He left his management role at the end of the 2021 season. Sergeant finished a total of 6 times in the top 10 of Tour of Flanders.
Rabobank Development Team was a professional bicycle racing team, the development team of the former Rabobank team now known as Visma–Lease a Bike. The team folded after the 2016 season.
The Ronde van Midden-Nederland is a road bicycle race held annually in Netherlands. It was organized as a 1.2 event on the UCI Europe Tour from 2005 to 2013, and as a 2.2 since 2015.
Gerard van Beek was a Dutch road cyclist. He won the bronze medal in the amateurs road race at the 1947 UCI Road World Championships. In 1948 and 1949 he won the final stage in the Ronde van Nederland.
Asito-Craft Cycling Team was a Dutch UCI Continental cycling team focusing on road bicycle racing. As a National level team they got invited to some UCI sanctioned events such as the Flèche du Sud in 2009.