Feb 19, 2024 at 11:45 PM Update: an hour ago
Major cycling tours are still allowed to continue through the South Limburg municipality of Vaals. The municipal council rejected a proposal on Monday evening to ban cycling tours with thousands of participants from the municipality.
The mayor and aldermen wanted significant restrictions on major cycling events because of the nuisance. The participants and the public of the tours would cause nuisance, antisocial behavior, pollution of the environment and disruption of quiet areas in Vaals.
The council chamber was completely full on Monday evening, because a negative decision could have a major impact on major races such as the Amstel Gold Race. Due to the decision of the municipal council, the annual tour on the day before the cycling classic for professional cyclists can continue to visit a number of well-known climbs in Vaals.
Under the current rules, three major cycling tours are still allowed each year, with a number of participants between 5,000 and 15,000 participants per event.
Dumoulin and Van Vliet speak
There were six speakers during the meeting, all of whom argued in favor of retaining the current rules. Among them was Leo van Vliet, the race director of the Amstel Gold Race. He reiterated his previously expressed position on the economic boost of 20 million euros for the region and the dependence of the tour on the annual cycling race.
Van Vliet denied the accusation that his course causes major pollution. “I cannot vouch for the behavior of the individual participant. But we have been hiring professional cleaners for years who drive the route on the day after the competition and remove the waste,” said Van Vliet.
Another speaker was former professional cyclist and winner of the Tour of Italy, Tom Dumoulin. The Limburger acknowledged that there is nuisance caused by cyclists and that measures must be taken against this, but informed the council that there cannot be a cycling classic without the tour. “For me personally, the Gold Race was very important, it passed through my street and got me into cycling.”
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Cycling Sports Domestic
2024-02-19 22:45:10
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