Same roads, earlier, shorter. I read that on Sporza with my helmet still on, and I recognised my Sunday ride, but back to front.
At our club, the strong group leaves at nine. I leave at twenty past nine, with the short version, and I catch them at the café. At the Eneco Tour the clock runs the other way: the women start earlier, on the same roads, and their distance is shorter than the men’s every time, except in the prologue and the time trial. Two races, two classifications, one name. The former Tour of Holland and the former Simac Ladies Tour.
On the last day, in Arnhem, everybody starts together, neutralised. After a few kilometres the men take the big loop, the women the local circuit, and the men only join the circuit once the women have finished. That’s exactly the principle of our ride, with one difference: at our place, nobody has ever waited for me to arrive.
At the prologue in The Hague, the plan was to start them alternately. The UCI did not agree: two separate races, a matter of insurance. Roxane Knetemann told Sporza: “So in our enthusiasm we may have been just a little too quick for the UCI.” So it will be 30 women, 30 men, 30 women.
Too quick is not grounds for relegation. I note.
Too quick, nobody has ever told me that. The club has told me “too late”, several times. I’m not saying I would ride the prologue. I’m saying that in principle, we can talk about it. At the café we argued till noon.
It’s true, we checked: Sporza.
