BiciRace.com :: 2005 Eneco Tour

2005 Eneco Tour, Preview

Eneco Tour, Netherlands

3 - 10 August

Preview

Stages
3 August, Prologue, Mechelen - Mechelen, 5.7K, Map
4 August, Stage 1, Geel - Mierlo, 192K, Map
5 August, Stage 2, Geldrop - Sittard/Geleen, 178K, Map
6 August, Stage 3, Beek - Landgraaf, 206K, Map
7 August, Stage 4, Landgraaf - Verviers, 232K, Map
8 August, Stage 5, Verviers - Hasselt, 194K, Map
9 August, Stage 6, Sint-Truiden - Hoogstraten, 196K, Map
10 August, Stage 7, Etten-Leur - Etten-Leur TT, 26.3K, Map

2004 Eneco Winner, Erik Dekker, photo: Rabobank

The Eneco Tour is formed out of the old Ronde van Nederland (or Tour of the Netherlands). This multi-country race is apart of the newly formed ProTour. It nicely fills a gap between the HEW-Cyclassics and the Clasica San Sebastian. This means that all ProTour teams will be represented, along with three wildcard teams.

The race is all over the place. From Belgium to the Netherlands, down to Germany, back to Belgium, and then finally finishing in the Netherlands. The original idea was to include Luxembourg, as sort of a shout-out to the Tour of Luxembourg who did not receive ProTour status. The race was originally referred to as the Benelux Tour. (Benelux is the region of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.) Now that Luxembourg is not part of the route, the name has disappeared too.

In the past as the Ronde van Nederland, the race featured many Dutch winners, as you might expect. Recently the race was the stomping grounds for cyclists coming off of the Tour de France with high form. Likewise, riders who did not race the Tour de France and are building up for an end of season rally. This year should be just a bit tougher, with the addition of two stages.

Last year's winner, Erik Dekker, will of course be back. Dekker will captain the 'home team', Rabobank. The team will fight with all of their strength to win this race. They will face their fiercest competition from Quick-Step, Davitamon-Lotto and Team CSC.

The organizers have created a challenging course. Eddy Merckx and Johan Museeuw helped with the route layout, so you know it will be tough. A mix of flat stages, two time trials and climbing stages that feature the Belgian Ardennes. This year with the addition of a prologue, the race might favor more of a TT specialist. This theory will be helped by the fact that the main TT is now on a separate day, and no longer combined with a road stage for a double day, like last year. Therefore, in the end you could see one of the following riders win the overall: Peter Van Petegem, Michael Boogerd, Michael Rogers, Erik Zabel or Davide Rebellin.