No Netherlands start in the Vuelta a Espana 2015

The Netherlands will not host the start of the Vuelta a Espana in 2015. Race organizers have told the Dutch organizing committee of their decision without any explanation. Earlier, Vuelta organizer Javier Guillen had said that the Netherlands had a 99.9% chance of holding the start.

The Vuelta last started in the Netherlands in 2009, with the start in Drenthe. The province in the northeastern part of the country had hoped to host the race again, but subsequently withdrew its participation, citing the sport's doping problems.

The organizing committee La Vuelta 2015 Holanda said that it was “disappointed” to receive the written notification, and is still awaiting the reasoning for it.

Fred Lubbers, head of the committee, blamed it on the fact that the Vuelta has been acquired by Tour de France organizer ASO. “They decided not to start in the Netherlands, we expect a statement this week,” he told ad.nl.