Fears that a two-day NATO summit in June in Holland and a consequent nationwide dearth of police motorcycle escort riders for the entire year could spark multiple race cancellations were confirmed this week, when the Veenendaal-Veenendaal Classic organisers became the first to announce that all their events would not take place in 2025.
Both the men's and women's Veenendaal-Veenendaal pro. races, as well as other junior events, were due to take place in late May. The Veenendaal organisers attempted to find alternative solutions to the lack of policing, Dutch cycling website Wielerflits reported, but to no avail.
A longstanding fixture in the Dutch calendar normally favouring the sprinters and allrounders, the 1.1-ranked men's race - briefly known as the Food Valley Classic, before reverting to its original name - has been running since 1985. The women's race, recently promoted to the 1.HC category, began four years ago.
Despite the brevity of the NATO summit, the KNWU (Dutch National Cycling Federation) confirmed late last year that one knock-on effect would be that motorcycle officers would be absent at bike races "for almost the whole cycling season."
Subject to final confirmation, four Dutch race organisers were reportedly told last week that they could finally have police escorts for 2025: the Amstel Gold Race, the Simac Ladies Tour, the Renewi Tour and the Olympia's Tour. But Veenendaal was not amongst their number, and the more recent announcement of an emergency federation grant of 215,000 Euros to help train civilian outriders to substitute police escorts has also failed to provide a solution for the race.
"As an organization, we have made great strides in recent years. We were well positioned on the international cycling calendar. It is extremely disappointing that we cannot now race due to a lack of police," Veenendaal organizer André Homma said, according to Wielerflits.
"If a race is cancelled once, it will be even more difficult to re-engage all parties, sponsors and volunteers the following year," added another race director, former pro Bart Voskamp.
"The police choices will have a major impact on the future of Dutch road cycling, not only this year, but also in the years to come."
As they battle to find a solution, the KNWU manager of competitive sports Joost van Wijngaarden said late last year that race organisers will be offered three scenarios in 2025: deployment of 200 traffic officials, a collaboration between police and civilian motorcyclists, or racing on a 10-25km circuit protected by permanent traffic security officers.
"In 2025, the third option is the most realistic for many organisers because of the limited deployment of police as a result of the hours required to secure the NATO summit," said Van Wijngaarden.
"But even after that, we will certainly have to continue to look at this option more often, because it is not a given that police can always be deployed at cycling races."
