Date August English name Eneco Tour of Benelux Competition UCI World Tour | Region Benelux Discipline Road Type Stage-race | |
The Eneco Tour of Benelux is a road bicycle racing stage-race. Its name refers to its main sponsor, the energy company Eneco Energie. It is part of both the UCI ProTour and the UCI World Ranking calendar.
Contents
History
The Tour of the Netherlands began on 6 May 1948, but only became an annual event in 1975. From about 2000 it was known as the Eneco tour. The start of the UCI's ProTour in 2005 saw the faltering tour reorganised and reinvigorated.
Organization
The ENECO Tour continues the faltering Tour of the Netherlands, which UCI president Hein Verbruggen deemed necessary for marketing reasons. The Dutch Tour organisation got a better sponsor (ENECO Energie). But because the race was not difficult enough, it could not be accepted into the new ProTour. At that point the organisation sought help from the organisation of the Tour of Belgium and the Tour de Luxembourg. They envisaged a Tour of the Benelux that would replace the three. This led to the Tour of Belgium as a co-organiser. The Tours of Belgium and Luxembourg will continue as such. The co-organisation or incorporation of the Tour de Luxembourg did not materialize, and since its inception the Eneco Tour has not crossed Luxembourgian territory yet. In the future the name ought to officially become the Tour of the Benelux.
Jerseys
The colors of the jerseys for the leaders of a classification have changed over the years.
General classification
The winners since 2005 have been:
Points classification
The winners of the points classification were:
Mountains classification
There have only been mountains classifications in 2005, 2007 and 2008. The winners were:
Young rider classification
The young rider classification is open for cyclists under 25. The winners of the young rider classification were:
Combativity classification
The winners of the combativity classification were: