Olympia's Tour

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Olympia's Tour

Race details
Date	May
Region	The Netherlands
Local name(s)	Olympia's Tour
Discipline	Road race
Type	Stage race
History
First edition	1909
Editions	56 (as of 2008)
First winner	Chris Kalkman
Most wins	Servais Knaven Arie Hassink (2 wins)
Most recent	Lars Boom

The Olympia's Tour is a stage race held in May in the Netherlands.

Contents 1 History 2 Past winners 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History

On November 27, 1898, A.S.C. Olympia was founded in Amsterdam, a cycling club that during the following century would leave its mark of Dutch cycling. The club gave rise not only to world champions but also become an organizer of a big stage race. After several one day races, the organizers from ASC Olympia wanted to organize a race through all of the Netherlands. In 1909 the first edition of this race took place, the Olympia’s Tour, with three stages and one rest day. Despite financial restrictions the second edition took place in 1910 with stages that went to Maastricht and Groningen.
After the first two editions of the Olympia’s Tour, it would be 17 years until the third edition took place, in part due to the fact that races on public roads were forbidden in the Netherlands during the First World War. An international field with sixteen Germans, the champions of Switzerland and Luxembourg and around forty Dutch riders departed from the Rembrandtplein on August 17 1927, for the start of the third edition. The Dutch riders were mainly amateurs, while the German were sponsored riders who rode for bicycle manufacturers such as Opel and Diamant, meaning that they had access to materials and could rely on a support team. It was no surprise that the German Rudolf Wolke won the race. The rider from Berlin won after four stages and 800 kilometres ahead of Janus Braspennincx. This would be the last edition of the race until 1955.

After a break for many years the race resumed on June 17, 1955, with ninety three riders starting the fourth edition in Stadionplein (in Amsterdam South) for a stage of 212 kilometres to Hoogeveen. The race was a battle until the very end with the 26 year old Piet Kooyman as the winner. After 1955 the race was held every year except for 2001, when the Netherlands had to take measures to stop the spread of the Foot-and-mouth disease during the 2001 crisis, which included the cancellation of public events.

The past winners of the event include many Dutch cyclists who would go on to become successful professionals. These include Henk Nijdam, Frits Schür, Cees Priem, Fedor den Hertog, Leo van Vliet, John Talen, Servais Knaven, Danny Nelissen, Matthé Pronk, Joost Posthuma and Thomas Dekker.
The 2007 event featured a battle between two Rabobank teammates, Martijn Maaskant and Lars Boom, both winning stages and wearing the leader’s jersey on times. Maaskant seemed to have taken the lead from Boom when he placed himself in a break that finished over three minutes ahead of Boom on the eighth stage but then on the following final stage Rabobank teammate Thomas Berkhout placed himself in a break that finished over six minutes ahead of the peloton. Berkhout won the race and finished first in the gc, with only two seconds advantage over Maaskant. ^[1] Afterward Maaskant left the Rabobank team to join the American based Slipstream Chipotle team.^[2] The latest event (2008) was won by Boom who controlled the race by having the jersey for six of the eight stages.^[3]

[edit] Past winners

Rider Team 1909 Chris Kalkman 1910 Adrue Bellersen 1927 Rudolf Wolke 1955 Piet Kooyman 1956 Kees van der Zande 1957 Adri Roks 1958 Ab can Egmond 1959 Huub Zilverberg 1960 Gerard Wesseling 1961 Mik Snijder 1962 Henk Nijdam 1963 Jos Driel 1964 Cor Schuring 1965 Harrie Stevens 1966 Jan van der Horst 1967 Cees Zoontjens 1968 Leen de Groot 1969 Piet Legierse 1970 Frits Schür 1971 Cees Priem 1972 Frits Schür 1973 Fedor den Hertog 1974 Roy Schuiten 1975 Hans Langerijs 1976 Leo van Vliet 1977 Arie Hassink 1978 Arie Hassink 1979 Jos Lammertink 1980 Oleg Logvin

Rider Team 1981 Gerard Schipper 1982 Gerrit Solleveld 1983 Mario Hering 1984 Asiat Saitov 1985 John Talen 1986 Berndt Dittert 1987 Jos Bol 1988 Dirk Meier 1989 Thomas Liese 1990 Wilco Zuijderwijk 1991 Anton Tak 1992 Servais Knaven 1993 Servais Knaven 1994 Henk Vogels 1995 Danny Nelisson 1996 Cristiano Citton 1997 Remco van der Ven 1998 Matthé Pronk Rabobank 1999 Marcel Duijn Rabobank 2000 Jan van Velzen Bankgiroloterij-Batavus 2001 No race 2002 Mart Louwers Rabobank 2003 Joost Posthuma Rabobank 2004 Thomas Dekker Rabobank 2005 Stef Clement Rabobank 2006 Tom Veelers Rabobank 2007 Thomas Berkhout Rabobank 2008 Lars Boom Rabobank

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Website