{"id":221532,"date":"2025-10-18T05:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T05:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/221532\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T05:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T05:47:07","slug":"riders-stop-tour-of-holland-organizer-snaps-without-police-were-finished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/221532\/","title":{"rendered":"Riders stop, Tour of Holland organizer snaps: \u2018Without police, we\u2019re finished\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The third stage of the <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/absolute-chaos-forces-halt-in-tour-of-holland-stage-3\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NIBC Tour of Holland<\/a> was cancelled on Friday afternoon after riders refused to continue due to repeated safety breaches on open roads.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to team directors in audio obtained by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wielerflits.nl\/nieuws\/thijs-rondhuis-messcherp-tegen-ploegleiders-nibc-tour-of-holland-dit-kan-zonder-politie-niet\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WielerFlits<\/a>, race organiser Thijs Rondhuis delivered an emotional but uncompromising message: road racing in the Netherlands cannot continue without police presence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened today is that 25 traffic marshals didn\u2019t show up during the neutralization,\u201d Rondhuis said. \u201cThat made the roll-out chaotic. From kilometre zero we secured everything, but we had road users ignoring stop signs. They were pulled over, then drove off again. That is the red line \u2014 we cannot do this without police.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The stage was cancelled, he said, for two clear reasons.\u00a0 \u201cNumber one, by far, is your safety,\u201d he said. \u201cThe second is that we must use this moment to ensure there is proper police support in future, for races like the Amstel Gold Race, ZLM Tour and this Tour of Holland. If we don\u2019t, there simply will be no road racing in the Netherlands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rondhuis acknowledged the broader implications. \u201cEveryone knows we tried to run this race without police. Saturday and Sunday are completely different \u2014 other provinces, fully guaranteed safety. But when safety isn\u2019t assured, we cannot continue. There is a red line. Without police, cycling isn\u2019t possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He apologized repeatedly to riders and team staff, outlining the revised plans. Saturday\u2019s stage in Drenthe will run around the VAM-berg (a man-made hill created for cycling) with full escort from the Motor Begeleidings Team Assen. (This is the civilian motorcycle escort team that ensures rider safety on Dutch races, stepping in when police support is limited.) Sunday\u2019s finale in Arnhem will be on a closed circuit. \u201cI personally guarantee your safety there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Fighting emotion, he said: \u201cIt hurts more to stop than you know. We tried. I believed it could work. It didn\u2019t. Sometimes, you must admit something isn\u2019t possible. End of race. We continue Saturday. And again, guys, my apologies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stage 4 is from Emmen to the VAM-Berg, for a total of 159 km.<\/p>\n<p>British phenom Ethan Hayter of Soudal Quick-Step is currently leading, with two stages remaining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The third stage of the NIBC Tour of Holland was cancelled on Friday afternoon after riders refused to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82,106445],"class_list":["post-221532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-tour-of-holland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}