Twenty one years after the last edition of the Tour of Holland was held, the newly-revived 2.1-ranked race is set to return to the UCI racing calendar this Tuesday evening, with a short, punchy prologue in the Hague kicking off the six-day event.
Adding another final stage racing option for teams alongside the ongoing Tour of Guangxi, this year’s NIBC Tour of Holland – to give the race its new full name – boasts a strong field of sprinters including Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike), Arnaud de Lie (Lotto) and Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quick Step).
But far from sticking to the Netherlands’ flat roads, only one stage, on Wednesday, is likely to end in a bunch sprint. Instead, the overall route will likely favour an all-rounder, thanks to Thursday’s 15-kilometre time trial, a hilly trek through the Limburg region of southern Holland – the same area where Amstel Gold is held – on Friday and no less than 13 ascents of the Vamberg climb in the northern side of the country on Saturday.
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The last day of the 600-kilometre event on Sunday, October 19 also has some major final technical challenges. A gravel sector, featuring on multiple loops round the town of Arnhem, will test the GC contenders all the way through to the finish – and the end of the stage racing year in Europe, too.
Initially held in 1948, before this year, the Tour of Holland last took place in 2004, with the victory going to former Netherlands rider Erik Dekker. One strong historical link for the newly revived race with its own past is that Roxane Knetemann – whose father Gerrie, a former World Champion and one of the top racers of the 1970s, who holds the current record of four overall victories – is its director.