Stage 3 of Tour of Holland cancelled after vehicles enter race route, riders refuse to continue

Stage 3 of the Tour of Holland has been cancelled after multiple vehicles entered the race route in South Limburg.

Riders were stopped after 30km when a car entered the course, but then during the neutralised period, another car entered the course, and riders then refused to continue racing.

The race in the Netherlands is currently being run without police support due to the NATO conference taking place in the nation, and they have been relying on volunteers to secure the route. However, this clearly did not work on Friday, with more than one vehicle ignoring stop signs and entering the course.

"On the fourth day of the NIBC Tour of Holland, the race was put on hold in the stage through Limburg," the race said in a short statement.

"The riders indicated after a short time that they wanted to stop for safety reasons. The organisation respects the riders' and team leaders' decision."

Race organiser Thijs Rondhuis blamed the chaos on the failure of the volunteer traffic warden system, saying that "we can't do this without police".

The withdrawal of police support for races this year threatened several races, and whilst they have gone ahead, it's not been without problem.

"What happened today is that 25 traffic controllers didn't show up during the neutralisation," Rondhuis told team directors, as reported byWielerflits.

"That's why the neutralisation was so chaotic. We fully secured the area from kilometre zero. We had several situations where other road users ignored stop signs from traffic controllers. They stopped at the side of the road, then started driving again, stopped again, and then started driving again. That's the sign, that's the red line, that we can't do this without police.

"For now, the race for the third stage of the Tour of Holland is over," he reportedly said. "So, we're stopping for two reasons. One – and that's by far the most important – is your safety. The second is that we must use this situation to ensure we have sufficient police presence in the future to continue organizing races like the Amstel Gold Race, the ZLM Tour, and the Tour of Holland.

"If we don't, we simply won't have any more cycling races in the Netherlands. We will therefore seize this opportunity to force the police presence for the future and put it back on the political agenda."

The race is meant to continue for two more stages across the weekend, but it is unclear at present whether these will go ahead, given the breakdown in traffic control on Friday. The race could be called off by the organisers, or teams and riders could choose to pull out. A similar situation emerged at the Étoile des Bessèges earlier this year, when multiple teams refused to continue after safety issues involving vehicles.

However, Rondhuis did underline that the weekend's stages take place in different regions, with different support.

"Saturday and Sunday are completely different. We'll have to deal with other provinces, which can guarantee our safety," he said.

"On Saturday, we'll be riding in Drenthe. There's a 23-kilometer approach, and after that, we'll stay in the area around the VAM-berg. That ride will be extremely secure thanks to the Motor Begeleids Team Assen. They rode the Elfstedenrace last year and Dwars door Drenthe this spring. I personally guarantee your safety there. On Sunday, we'll be riding on a closed circuit in Arnhem. I personally guarantee safety there as well."

Stage 3 started with Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) leading the race after winning the opening prologue and stage 2's time trial, and he will start in the orange leader's jersey if and when the race continues.

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