Ronde van Drenthe ( en, Tour of Drenthe) is an elite men's and women's professional road bicycle racing event held annually in the Drenthe, Netherlands and sanctioned by the

Royal Dutch Cycling Union The Royal Dutch Cycling Union or KNWU (in Dutch: ''Koninklijke Nederlandsche Wielren Unie'') is the national governing body of cycle racing in the Netherlands. The aim of the KNWU is to give adequate support for all types of cycling in the Nether ...

. The women's event is part of the

UCI Women's World Tour The UCI Women's World Tour is the premier annual female elite road cycling tour. History In order to increase the coverage of Women's cycling the UCI held a summit in December 2014 between the UCI Women’s Working Group and the UCI Women's ...

, and the men's event is part of the

UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

History

Men's event

The race was first held in 1960 as an amateur event. Since 2005, the men's event has been part of the

. It became a 1.HC race in 2017. Between 2010 and 2015,

Dwars door Drenthe Dwars door Drenthe ( en, Across Drenthe) was an elite men's road bicycle racing event held annually in the Drenthe, Netherlands, and sanctioned by the Royal Dutch Cycling Union. It took place between 2010 and 2015. From 2010, the men's event was ...

was held on the same weekend as the Ronde van Drenthe. In 2011, Ronde van Drenthe and Dwars door Drenthe were held as a combined stage race, with each day retaining its own branding. The events reverted to being separate events in 2012.

Women's event

A women's event was first held in 1998 as Novilon Eurocup, a one-day race. Between 2003 and 2006, this was held as a three day event. In 2007, these three stages were replaced by three one-day races - the Novilon Eurocup, Drenthe 8 of Dwingeloo and Ronde van Drenthe. In 2015, the Novilon Eurocup was held for the last time, and the Drenthe 8 became Drentse 8 van Westerveld. The first edition of Ronde van Drenthe in 2007 was part of the

UCI Women's Road World Cup The UCI Women's Road Cycling World Cup was a season-long road bicycle competition for women organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale between 1998–2015. This competition consisted of a series (which has varied from 6 to 12 events) of rac ...

, and the race became part of the

in 2016. Dutch riders

Marianne Vos Marianne Vos (; born 13 May 1987) is a Dutch multi-discipline cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . After winning a junior European and World Championship in road racing, she continued her success in senior cycling by becomin ...

and

Lorena Wiebes Lorena Wiebes (born 17 March 1999) is a Dutch racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . She rode for in the women's team time trial event at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships. She won the gold medal in road cycling at ...

have both won the Ronde van Drenthe event three times.

Route

The races use generally flat roads in the Drenthe region of the Netherlands, with the challenge being multiple ascents of the – a hill built on a

landfill site A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the wast ...

. The climb is 750m in length with an average gradient of 4.2% and a maximum gradient of 20%. Other difficulties are the ten cobbled sections on the route.

Men's past winners

Source

Women's past winners

Novilon Eurocup

Drentse 8 van Dwingeloo / Acht van Westerveld

Ronde van Drenthe

Source

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ronde van Drenthe Cycle races in the Netherlands UCI Women's Road World Cup UCI Europe Tour races Recurring sporting events established in 1960 1960 establishments in the Netherlands Recurring sporting events established in 1998 1998 establishments in the Netherlands Women's road bicycle races UCI Women's World Tour races