"25 traffic marshals simply didn’t show up... without police support, we cannot guarantee safety” – Tour of Holland reacts as chaotic scenes force cancellation of stage 3

The Tour of Holland 2025 descended into chaos on Friday afternoon as stage 3 was cancelled mid-race due to serious safety concerns, with organisers and riders alike declaring the conditions too dangerous to continue.

According to WielerFlits, the peloton came to a halt after a series of alarming incidents, including vehicles appearing on the race route in the opposite direction. It marked the second major safety scare of the day, following an earlier collision between a car and the riders during the neutralised start.

Race director Thijs Rondhuis, who has years of experience working with the event through organisers TIG Sports, delivered a candid and emotional address to team directors in the aftermath of the cancellation — comments obtained by WielerFlits that shed light on the scale of the organisational breakdown.

“What happened today is that 25 traffic marshals scheduled for the neutral zone simply didn’t show up,” Rondhuis explained. “That made the neutralisation chaotic. From kilometre zero, everything was fully secured, but we then encountered several situations where other road users ignored stop signals from marshals. They were pulled over at the side of the road, started driving again, were stopped a second time — and still continued. That’s the signal, that’s the red line. It shows that without police support, we cannot guarantee safety.”

Rondhuis confirmed that stage 3 was officially abandoned, stressing that the decision had been made solely on the grounds of rider safety — and as a wake-up call for Dutch cycling more broadly.

“We’re stopping for two reasons,” he said. “The first — and by far the most important — is safety. The second is that we must use this situation to ensure that in future we have enough police presence to keep organising races like the Amstel Gold Race, the ZLM Tour, and the Tour of Holland."

“If we don’t, there simply won’t be any road races left in the Netherlands," he adds ominously. "Without police, racing is not possible.”

The veteran organiser admitted he had hoped the race could safely operate without direct police involvement — a logistical and financial challenge faced by many Dutch organisers in recent years — but Friday’s events proved otherwise. “Everyone knows that we’ve been trying to run this race without police support. On Saturday and Sunday the situation will be completely different — we’ll be in other provinces where our safety is guaranteed. But when safety cannot be assured, we cannot go on. There’s a red line. Without police, we can’t race.”

Rondhuis apologised to riders and team managers, confirming that the Tour of Holland will resume with stage 4 in Drenthe, followed by the final stage in Arnhem, both on fully secured routes. “On Saturday, we’ll race in Drenthe around the VAM-berg. That stage will be fully secured by the Motor Escort Team Assen, who also managed the Elfstedenrace and Dwars door Drenthe earlier this year. I personally guarantee your safety there. On Sunday, we race on a closed circuit in Arnhem — I guarantee safety there too.”

Visibly emotional, Rondhuis concluded his statement by acknowledging the strain of the day’s events. “I’m closer to tears than laughter right now. But there can be no debate between organisers and teams when it comes to safety. We tried — I thought it was possible — but it turns out it isn’t. Sometimes you just have to admit something doesn’t work. The race ends here. We’ll continue on Saturday. And once again, lads — my apologies.”

His comments were met with applause and expressions of thanks from the teams present — a rare show of solidarity in the face of an incident that has left Dutch cycling confronting difficult questions about the future of race safety and policing.