Women's Tour of the Netherlands,

Netherlands, September 15-20, 1998

The Stages

  • Stage 1, Ter Aar - Ter Aar, ITT, 4.6 kms:
  • Stage 2, Langeraar - Langeraar, 110 kms:
  • Stage 3, Neerijnen - Neerijnen, 115 kms:
  • Stage 4, Tegelen - Tegelen, 105 kms:
  • Stage 5, Bergeijk - Bergeijk, 117 kms:
  • Stage 6, Valkenburg - Valkenburg, 109 kms:

Summary Information

The Women's Tour of the Netherlands is more 6 mini-rounds than a real Tour. The idea to start the event called the "Holland Ladies Tour" came in September 1997. The International Calender for 1998 was already closed in May 1997, so the organisers were forced to stage the Holland Ladies Tour as a National event. From the start this presented difficulties for them.

There were some problems with police supervision. In the Netherlands, the police are divided into national police and regional police. The national police (the KLPD) were not willing to provide the necessary support, because they said they are getting asked by too many sporting events for support. It is believed that if the race had have got onto the International Calendar then they might have got the requisite police support. However, there was some support from the police which helped the tour. As the stage was held in 6 different location (regions) sometimes up to 18 motorbike police supported the race (depending on the stage, and the difficulty in securing the race). The problem was that the regional police were not allowed to provide their services outside their region. As the regions are rather small it was not possible to do town-to-town races.

Other problems came from the weather. In the first three days the weather was terrible. Just a day before the first stage in Ter Aar, the "polder" in Ter Aar almost flooded because in one weekend more then 10 cm of rain came down. This resulted in smaller crowds in Ter Aar, the first stage, and Langeraar, where the second stage was held. For the next stages the weather improved and so did the number of spectators. The final day in sunny Valkenburg saw the Caubergpacked with people. There were thousands of specatators.

A final problem came from the press. For the first few stages not very much attention was given to the event. Although from start to finish SBS 6 did reports of the race on TV. On the Monday following the Tour finish every big newspaper in the country carried reports on the Holland Ladies Tour. In the "Algemeen Dagblad", for instance, a very large article was published together with a photo

The tour had a total budget of 80000 Dutch guilders ($US40000) and a stage victory brings the handsome prize of 60, yes 60 Dutch guilders. Organiser Van Duivenbode says: "We're glad the tour has got off the ground. It's good for the image of women's cycling in the Netherlands."

National Women's Coach Jean Paul van Poppel said: "It's an important chance to show who we are in the international field."

Van Poppel had initially planned to take his squad to train in Switzerland as preparation for the World Championships in Valkenburg next month. But with a financial offer of the KNWU the Dutch Team changed their training plans.