Tour of the Netherlands cycling race could return to pro calendar after 20 years

Twenty years after Erik Dekker was the last winner of the Tour of the Netherlands, the multi-day cycling race may be making a comeback. Hard work is being done to get the race on the schedule for October 2025, NOS reports.

TIG Sports is taking the initiative to bring back the Tour of the Netherlands under the provisional name Tour of Holland. “The Netherlands is still a great cycling country. We are all on our bikes; our cyclists deliver top performances, and we notice that in the conversations we have. There is definitely a need and interest,” TIG managing partner Niels Markensteijn said to the broadcaster.

TIG first planted the seed with Visma-Lease a Bike and DSM-Firmenich-PostNL, and with the support of the major Dutch cycling teams, then went to the cycling association KNWU. The KNWU requested that the race be put on the calendar for next October.

The international cycling association UCI will announce the calendar for next season at the end of this month in Zurich. According to NOS, it seems a formality that the Tour of Holland will be on there.

The race will consist of a prologue and five states at various locations in the Netherlands. All stages will be ridden in the form of a circuit, a local round. According to Markensteijn, that puts less pressure on governments and authorities. “Of course, permits are needed to be able to close off the course, but after that, less is needed,” he said, referring to things like motorcycle cops accompanying the cyclists. “By not riding in ribbon stages from A to B, but on local circuits, we make it easier. We also think it is more attractive to the public. It is more fun if you see the riders pass by more than once.”

The Tour of Holland will return at a 2.1 status, the third level of multi-day competitions in which professional teams participate. “We hope to grow into a World Tour competition in the years thereafter, the highest level,” Markensteijn said.

Once the Tour of Holland is officially on the calendar, the organizers will start looking for sponsors and talking to local governments about the intended locations for the stages.